The Other Legacy
by ChaosEmperorNex
Summary: A forgotten scroll, hidden away, brings forth an elder power back into the world. How will the world deal with a Naruto that possesses the secrets of long forgotten truths and powers spoken of in legends. And how will this effect the precarious balance of power in a world on the brink of a final war? Mokuton/Sage/Badass Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Yo! This is CE-NEX with a story that has been sitting in storage for a while now. Due to school I haven't been able to update Founders' Legacy as I have no free time what so ever. **

**No worry, Founders will be my primary project and I will continue to update as soon as I have the time. **

**Now this story starts off identical to the first chapter of Founders so go ahead and feel free to skip to the part where he gets the scroll. First time readers read it all or else your going to be really confused. Hope you all enjoy so with out further ado**

**The Other Legacy**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Will of Fire Reborn<br>**

Hugging the edges of buildings and fleeting through the shadows, a small figure makes its way toward a gargantuan monument with four distinct faces carved onto it. Judging by the bursts of speed in between momentary pauses of caution, one would deem that the figure is in incredible urgency. Upon closer inspection, the small figure is revealed to be a young child, no more than eight years of age. A young boy, evidently, possessing a mask of panic and dread. He glances over his shoulder, hearing the angry shouting of the villagers of Konoha and quickens his pace.

"Kill the demon!"

"Avenge our families!"

"We must finish what the fourth started!"

He always hears their curses as he walks the streets. He constantly endures their angry glares and scathing looks. Yet, on this day, it is always worse. October 10th; the annual Konoha Village festival that marks the day that the fourth Hokage defeated and killed the demon fox that assaulted the village six years ago and sacrificed his life to do it. Incidentally, this day also happens to be the young child's birthday.

A taint of moonlight ripples down through ash grey clouds, illuminating the boy's face in a pale and cold glow. He has soft features that accentuate innocence of youth yet, at the same time, are adorned with angular edges honed by emotional turmoil. His cheeks are faintly marked by thin lines resembling whiskers; nearly unnoticeable on his already fair complexion. Pale blonde hair that blends in with the moonlight in an eldritch fashion, wildly crowns his head.

It is his eyes, however, that reign as his most prominent and memorable features. They are twin pools of sapphire that shine though his weak and sorrow filled aura. They sparkle with a mischievous intelligence and radiate that childish mirth found in all but the most depraved young. However, if one was to closely inspect those eyes, one would be alarmed to find a different shade of his eyes touching the edges of his irises. Hard glacial ice was slowly creeping over the eyes.

Uzamaki Naruto. Orphaned and alone, he is hated and loathed for reasons unknown to him. He has spent the years of his very short life hiding and surviving in an environment of abuse and suffering. He knows only anger and hate and feels only sorrow and angst. Leading him to adopt a persona of a cheerful and vibrant prankster, which, in truth, is but a mask to draw attention to himself and hide the crushing grief he is burdened with.

"Man oh man why didn't I listen to the old man," he says in regret. He recalls how his surrogate grandfather, the third hokage, had told him to come to the Hokage tower first thing in the morning, where he would be spared from the villager wrath, and not to leave until the next day. Unfortunately, the characteristic impatience and quick settling of boredom in youth got the better of him and he had left the safety of the Hokage's office to find some entertainment.

Naruto could hear the shouts getting louder and louder, which could only mean that he is about to be caught and obtain a viscous beating. Again, he quickened his pace and arrived at a large tree growing into the side of the Hokage Mountain. It was an impressive oak, the largest in the entire village. He never really came to this part of the village so he didn't see it too often. He stood in awe of the majestic tree, momentarily forgetting his plight. He remembered the words the old man had spoken to him too long ago when they were walking through here.

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><p><strong>FlashBack<strong>

_ Naruto was walking hand in hand with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage. He was a wizened old man, possessing a vast wisdom obtained through years of hardships and struggles for the sake of his people and village. He took a puff from his pipe and let out a ring of smoke. His eyes crinkled as a smile spread across his face._

"_Ah, look Naruto, we have arrived at Hime-sama's garden," the old hokage proclaimed merrily._

"_Hime-sama, where!?" the bright eyed blonde looked around expecting an actual person._

"_Right in front of you my boy."_

_ "Huh?" the boy said quizzically while scratching his head. "Jiji you're showing your age. There's no one in front of us. All I see is a giant tree."_

_Sarutobi chuckled to himself. "That _is _Hime-sama Naruto. She has been with us since the beginning of the village and silently watched over us."_

_Again, Naruto looked puzzled. "Why would you call a tree Hime," he asked. _

_ Taking a long puff from his pipe, Sarutobi blew out a long line of smoke. "Well you see Naruto, Konohagakure was founded by two men, The First Hokage and his very best friend. As a token of friendship, Shodai-sama gave his friend a small plant which he planted right here to mark the foundation of our village. That's how Hime-same came to be. She has been graced by the hands of both our founding fathers."_

_ "Wow! That's so cool," exclaims the boy excitedly. "Hey Jiji, were they strong?"_

_Sarutobi began laughing loudly. "Were they strong? They were the absolute strongest! Entire armies fled before them and it was said that together that they were invincible!"_

"_Wow! Did you ever meet them?"_

"_Why yes. I did as a matter of fact. I met them when I was around your age. Truth be told, when they weren't busy running the village they were often found right here. I saw them here on many an occasion."_

**FlashBack End**

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><p>Naruto was brought out of his reverie by the angry curses that were coming from behind him. Not wanting to take his chances on running away, he decided to climb and hide in the foliage of the tree. Climbing higher and higher, he settled down at the top of the massive trunk where branches, thicker than the length of him, shot off skyward. Peering through the branches for his pursuers, Naruto felt something where he was sitting. Standing up, he ran his hands over where he was seated not a second a go and felt something. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was the Konoha symbol that all Konoha shinobi wear. Yet, the weird thing was that it wasn't carved into he tree rather, it was growing out of the tree like the knots at the trunk.<p>

Suddenly Naruto froze; he could feel the villagers closing in on him. He didn't know how but, he could always feel people and their moods. It was strange and he never told his Jiji in fear of being ostracized for being different. He did as he always did; he hid within himself. He went deep into his own mind and retreated from the world, making his presence as small as possible. He did it often when he was being chased or targeted. He did his best to be invisible and hide himself from aggressors.

"Dammit! Where did that that demon bastard go?"

"Maybe it ran somewhere else. Let's go look."

"No! It has to be here somewhere! We have the place surrounded. That fucking monster couldn't have gotten away!"

"Hey check the tree. He might have hid in it!"

Naruto's blood froze. He could feel his heart go into overdrive as fear gripped his insides. He began to sweat and hyperventilate. Rapid labored breathes escaped his lungs as panic took over.

"Wait! That's Shodai-sama's sacred tree! We can't just go and climb a national treasure. The ANBU will have us in chains," one of them proclaims.

"Who gives a fuck? I'm taking that fuckin demon out if it's the last thing I do," another said venomously.

Naruto was completely taken over by terror at this point as he saw the leaves rustle, indicating someone was making an ascent up the tree. In that moment of pure terror, Naruto, unbeknownst to him, flared his chakra. Next thing he knew he was falling downward into a black abyss.

"Ugghh…what happened?" said a disoriented Naruto as he sat up and rubbed the back of his sore head. The last thing he remembered was falling all of a sudden when the angry villagers began to climb up the tree. Naruto took a look around his surroundings and found that he was in a dark room. Glancing upwards, he noticed a dark tunnel of some sorts that led straight upwards.

_It's probably where I fell from._

Naruto stood up, intent on exploring this newfound place. Just as he took the first step forward, several lanterns on the ceiling lit up, bathing the room in a warm, white glow.

"Wow," Naruto whispered in wonder.

The room was larger than his entire apartment. The walls were wooden and adorned with intricate designs and carvings. On one wall there were two large symbols etched on it; one he recognized as the Uchiha clan symbol, the other he had no clue but, he felt that he had seen it during his frequent visits to the Hokage's office. There were several large and comfortable sofas off to the side and a small wooden table with several scrolls and books on it. He walked over to the table and picked up what appeared to be several loose papers bound together by a leather cord running through a hole in the top left-hand corner. Whoever wrote on it had really neat handwriting as it seemed to Naruto to look like the calligraphy that Jiji practiced. He began to read the contents of the first page.

_ One of the first things Madara and I intend to do is open up an academy where our children may learn the shinobi arts. It is imperative that they learn to defend themselves as the various clans have grown incredibly hostile at the pact made between the Uchiha and Senju. We both fervently pray that our children do not have to live through the horrendous wars that we have yet, we know that things will continue to remain unstable for years to come._

_ Here, I have written down several chakra control exercises here that were meant to be used in said academy however, Madara quickly tore up my original draft with some unsavory words. To quote, _"Hashirama-baka! How the hell do you expect our children to do these exercises? They may be fine for chakra monsters like you and me but mere kids will end up with chakra exhaustion doing these! We're trying to nurture our children, not kill them!"

_Asshole_

_Any ways, I've put too much time and work into this to simply discontinue it. Who knows? We might just have a kid come along with chakra levels equivalent to ours and in need of unorthodox training methods. So without further ado, I present to you:_

_**Chakra Control for Monsters**_

_By: Hashirama Senju_

Naruto put the booklet back down on the table.

'_Hmm…sounds interesting. I should tell Jiji about this place but, first I gotta find a way out.'_

He walked away and headed towards an archway that led into a long hallway. Naruto headed down it and saw that there were several more archways along the hall and that it ended in a dead end. Peering through the first archway he came across he gasped at what he saw. A massive chamber with a ceiling so high that Naruto couldn't see anything except a black expanse. He noticed on the wall adjacent to the entrance that there several weapons lined across. Knives, kunai, katanas, nodachis, bastard swords and several other weapons that he could not identify.

However, what caught his eyes was a certain section of the wall that was cleared of weapons save for three. One was a gunbia with three tomoe on it. The second was an oversized sword that was easily bigger than Naruto. The last was the most unique of the three. It was a katana without a guard and shone mercurial silver. Managing to take his eyes off the weapon, Naruto slowly took in the gargantuan room.

'_It's a training room.'_

Realizing the function of the room and deciding there was nothing else to gleam from it, he left and went back into the hallway. Looking down the hall he went to the next archway and stopped before entering. It was filled with rows and rows of scrolls and books. The library was not even half the size of the training room but, it was still impressive. Deciding that it would be better to explore the rest of the compound rather than lose himself in curiosity, Naruto turned around and looked at the last two archways. These actually had doors, instead of just being openings in the walls. Opening the first door he found that it was a rather sizable bathroom complete with a stone shower and an indoor hot spring.

_Whoever lived here must really have liked their comforts. It's like a luxury hotel here for shinobi. _

Turning on his heels, Naruto went down to the last room and pried the wooden the doors open. This room was distinctively smaller than the other three and was rather empty for the most part. The only noticeable furniture were two simple beds on opposite sides of the room. Naruto noticed however, that between the two beds, the wall was covered in pictures. The largest of which depicted two men with their arms draped over each other's shoulders and smiling widely. One of the men had long straight black hair and tanned skin. Naruto recognized this man as the Shodaime Hokage because he often saw a picture of him in Jiji's office. The other man also had long black hair, except that his was wild and disheveled. He had a pale complexion that made Naruto think about the Uchiha police force that would always follow him to make sure he did not get onto trouble.

Naruto looked at some of the other pictures. One of them was of the Shodai standing next to a beautiful woman with red-hair. There was another of the Shodai holding a small blode haired girl in his arms. Then there was a picture of the other man standing next to someone who looked nearly identical to him; although; the man with wild hair looked much younger in this picture. There was a really funny picture with the Shodaime, the wild haired man and another man who Naruto recognized as the Nidaime Hokage. The Shodaime stood in between the two men and smiled widely while the Nidaime and other man openly glared at one another. Several other pictures adorned the wall but, Naruto simply glanced over to them and made his way to the bed on the right.

There was a book, similar to the one he had picked up in the entrance room, laying on the bed. He picked it up and read the title.

_**The Art of Seduction**_

_By: Madara Uchiha_

_ Seduction in itself is a form of genjutsu. It is a hidden compulsion that, when mastered, can hone the mind and perfect psychological warfare. The theory behind it is to capture the heart, with the mind and body falling in tow soon afterwards. A subtle movement of the head, a slight shift in weight, they can inspire thoughts of grace and power. The throwing of a kunai should be done in a way that it exemplifies the beauty of ease and show experience and mind set of battle. All these serve to instill yourself in the hearts of both enemies and allies, regardless of sex._

Naruto put the book down and began thinking to himself.

'_I see so that other man next to the Shodaime must be this Madara person. Makes sense. He looks 100% Uchiha to me.'_

As interesting as the book was, Naruto was more concerned about leaving the hidden compound. It would not do to escape the angry mob only to die of starvation from being trapped in a place where he could not get out and no one could find him. Naruto decided to head back to the library as it was the only room he had not actually explored. Reentering the room, Naruto felt a strange feeling wash over him. He actually enjoyed reading but because every time he attempted to enter the library, he was unceremoniously kicked out.

Walking between rows of scrolls and books, he reached the center of the room that had a large wooden table littered with papers and a rather large scroll. The scroll immediately piqued his interest. He knew that several jutsu were often recorded in such scrolls and were used to teach the higher-level ninja.

'_Maybe I can learn a super cool jutsu and surprise Jiji with it! I can't wait to see the look on his face when I show him.'_

Naruto placed the scroll on the ground and unwound it, sending the scroll rolling all the way to the end of the wall.

'_Wow it's really big'_

Examining the scroll, Naruto realized that he could not make heads or tails of it. It was covered in strange symbols and patterns that were entirely foreign to him. He walked along the long piece of parchment, hoping to find something that he could understand. Once he reached the center of the scroll, he found that there was a large empty circle drawn there. He sat down in front of it, contemplating the function of the scroll and what he should do with it.

'_Maybe I should try to put some chakra into it. I remember Jiji sometimes put his finger on a piece of paper and an ANBU popping up out of nowhere.'_

Recalling how the old man taught him to channel chakra a while back, Naruto made the ram symbol with his hands and concentrated until he felt that tugging sensation from his gut. He then placed his hands on the scroll and did his best to send out as much chakra he could. The effect was instantaneous. All the symbols began to glow a faint green and Naruto stared in wonder as the circle in the center turned into an eye.

A deep crimson eye that glowed with power. A small black pupil formed in the center, circled by three black tomoe. Naruto was officially freaked when the eye began to move, shifting, looking around, until its gaze fell on him. The moment it saw him, it bulged and he couldn't help but stare at it. The tomoe began to spin and Naruto followed their cycle with his own eyes. Faster and faster they swirled, capturing him in their hypnotic dance until all he saw was a black expanse that quickly swallowed him.

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><p>Naruto stood dazed, his mind a complete blank as he stared off into the black abyss. His face was completely impassive and his brilliant blue eyes were glazed over. In that moment no thought passed through his mind, no emotion fluttered in his heart. He simply was.<p>

"Hello little one."

Naruto spun around and went pale. Behind him was a man who he knew all too well or at least heard all about from the old man. With his long black hair, tanned skin, soft, compassionate dark eyes and trademark metal plate armor; undoubtedly this was the Shodaime Hokage.

With a previously thought dead man standing there and smiling at him, Naruto did what was most sensible to an eight year old. He screamed.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHH! IT"S A GHOST!"

The Shodaime Hokage turned ashen and began looking around frantically. "Where!?" He asked, with no small sense of apprehension and fear in his voice.

After a few moments of where both individuals panicked needlessly, Naruto saw the dead Hokage turn towards him with a sudden realization in his eyes. Collapsing onto the floor and sitting Indian style, the legendary Senju let out a sigh. "Phew," he said in relief. "You nearly gave me a heart attack kid."

"B-but your dead!" Naruto exclaimed.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "Really now…kinda makes this surreal knowing I kicked the bucket. Anyways I'm just a chakra imprint." He then barked out a loud laugh. "So how long have I been dead?"

Naruto blinked a few times, still thoroughly confused and suspicious of the whole ordeal. "I dunno…I guess a really long time. Jiji said you died a long time ago."

The other blinked in confusion.

"Jiji?" he asked.

"Yeah! The old man Hokage!"

"Oh ho! The Hokage, huh? What's his name? Is it Madara? Tobirama?"

"Huh? Who the hell are they? No, everyone else calls Jiji Sarutobi-sama."

The young man nearly laughed at the expression on the Shodaime's face. His eyes completely bugged out and his jaw nearly unhinged. "Hiruzen!? Whose bright idea was it to name that pervert kid Hokage!" he cried.

"Jiji said that it was the Nidaime who gave him the job. Oh! That's right! The Nidaime was supposed to be your brother!" Naruto said.

Hashirama threw his hands over his face and began to sulk. Naruto could only make out a few words that the dead man was mumbling but, he recognized a few of them were ones he often heard in the red light district. The kind that made Cat forcibly shove soap into his mouth if she caught him saying them.

Interrupting the bout of depression that had taken over the older man, Naruto asked, "Uhh…where exactly are we?" Looking up, with the dark aura miraculously disappearing, Hashirama gave him a surprised look.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Uhh…not really. I was looking at this huge scroll with a really freaky eye on it. Next thing I know I'm here," Naruto said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

Getting up while muttering 'I told him it was creepy', Hashirama brushed off his pants and said, "Well, that scroll puts you in a genjutsu. Well, in truth it's really heavy space-time fuinjutsu meshed together within a genjutsu but, you don't need to know all that boring stuff. You come here, I train you."

"You're going to train me?" Naruto asked wide eyed and with awe in his voice.

"Pretty much," Hashirama chuckled.

"No way! The teme is going to be _so jealous _when finds out I get a Hokage to teach me! Hey does that I don't have to go to the academy anymore?"

Hashirama let out a booming laugh. "Sorry, but that's not my call. By the way young one, what's your name?"

Naruto gave a wide smile and said, "Name's Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the next Hokage!"

"Now that's the attitude to…did you say Uzumaki?"

Nodding his head, Naruto noticed a warm twinkle appear in the man's dark eyes. "Well what do you know? My wife was an Uzumaki. Maybe you're a relative."

"I'm not too sure about that," Naruto said with an embarrassed blush. Then he mumbled, "I'm an orphan. Jiji just gave me the name when I was a baby."

"No you're definitely an Uzumaki," he said absentmindedly and suddenly grabbing Naruto's cheeks causing the young boy to protest. "Admittedly, you're the first blonde Uzumaki I've met but, your chakra is the genuine article. Hmm…it feels familiar…_really _familiar."

All of a sudden, Naruto noticed the Shodaime Hokage's face grow very serious and Naruto became worried. _'What if he finds something wrong with me? Is he going to treat me badly like the rest of the village?'_

"Hang on," the one time Senju Patriarch muttered, his brow furrowing. "What do we have here? Hold still Naruto."

Letting go of his cheeks, Naruto saw Hashirama's hands trail down to his abdomen and they began to glow green. After a minute, the man had a surprised look on his face. "Well," he said to himself. "I suppose that's one way to deal with them. Seal's certainly an Uzushio design."

'_Seal? What's he talking about?'_

"Hmm, an eight trigrams skeleton. Very well done, if I must say so myself and the matrix…hmm?"

Unexpectedly, Naruto jumped back as the Hokage shot up with a hiss and he looked very disgruntled. "Using _that _seal. Foolish, very foolish."

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Hashirama asked him, "Naruto, I'm going to assume you have no idea what's inside of you?"

Naruto tilted his head side in confusion. "Ramen?" Hashirama grabbed the sides of head and vigorously rubbed his temples while letting out a sigh of frustration. A few minutes passed before the man dropped his hands and crossed them. "I can practically hear Tobirama lecturing me for this," Hashirama sighed. "Naruto!" He barked.

Naruto, for his part, immediately stood to attention at being addressed in such a strict manner. Usually he wouldn't but, the sheer authority behind the Shodaime Hokage's words wasn't something even _he _felt comfortable ignoring.

Of course, when the deceased Hokage gave him a disarming smile, Naruto was instantly on his guard. Having spent the majority of his life in the shady parts of town and watched over by carefully by black ops, Naruto picked up am incredible sense of caution when dealing with people and, in his experience, when people smiled at him, things generally turned sour.

"How would you like to become Hokage," Hashirama offered with an even bigger smile that began to creep Naruto out.

Tentatively, Naruto said, "I'd love to but, it's kind of Jiji's decision. You know, with you being dead and everything."

"I could make you as strong as me. You could take the hat from Hiruzen without even trying. How about it?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and glared at the man who was once called a god. "What's the catch? And how could you make me that strong? The old man is the strongest in the village!"

"Pfft," Hashirama scoffed. "Saru couldn't even beat me in my sleep. No I'm being completely serious," he added at Naruto's disbelieving look. "He actually tried to attack me in my sleep. The traps I set in around my bed sent him to the hospital for three days."

"Okay, say I believe you. You still haven't told me the catch!" Naruto said defiantly.

"Children these days," Hashirama exhaled. He put his right hand to his chin while using his left to carry the elbow of his right. "How about this. I make you super strong and you promise on your life to do everything you can to protect Konoha and keep it in peace. Deal?"

Thinking it over for a few seconds, Naruto realized something. _'That's pretty much what a hokage does anyway! Sucker! I got this in the bag!' _He completely missed the mischievous glint in Hashirama's eyes.

"Deal!" Naruto announced.

"Perfect," Hashirama said with a warm smile.

* * *

><p>His head hurt.<p>

No wait, scratch that.

His head hurt _a lot._

It didn't help that there were hundreds of images flashing through his mind at such a rapid pace that he felt like he was getting motion sickness. He was pretty sure that these images were memories. He was even surer the fact these memories in no way belonged to him. Did he forget to mention that he was falling into a seemingly endless abyss?

'_Let's see…what is the last thing I remember?'_

His father smacking his older brother and him over the head with his shakujō for blowing up another farm while practicing ninshuu.

'_What? I never met my father. And I certainly don't have a brother! Let's try again.'_

Him proudly standing in front a massive congregation of red heads and announcing the formation of Uzushio.

'_No no no. This can't be right. I never joined a cult. One more time.'_

A read headed hottie, a scarred man wearing _too _much blue to be fashionable and a tall pale man in a desperate need for a haircut screaming their heads off at him for gambling away several million ryo while being heavily intoxicated.

'_Huh, the people seem familiar enough but I _never _lose when it comes to gambling. So this can't be right either.'_

The First Hokage himself, ruffling his hair affectionately before blurring through a long chain of hand seals.

_ 'Yeah…this feels right. We we're-ufff!'_

Just as his mind was slowing down and he was able to form coherent thoughts, he slammed into freezing water. The pain returned a hundred fold and he instinctively clutched at his head. His fingers entwined in his hair and pulled, hoping that one pain would dull the other. However it had little effect and the aching pulse continued to ram away at the interior of his skull.

More memories began churning through his head. Each filled with different people and feelings. Dozens of personalities fighting for dominance within himself and he feared that he would lose to the rising mass of wailing voices.

Damn it all to hell! His head hurt!

Suddenly a booming voice, filled with a vicious malice, and an unquenchable thirst for violence shook the…well wherever he was.

"**At long last…we finally meet…."**

He sat up and gaped at what he saw. A cage. The single biggest cage he had ever seen. Each bar was the length of a mountain and chains, with links the size of houses ran between them.

He could feel the presence behind the cage and boy was it a big one. The sheer power and overwhelming malice that came from behind those bars really did a number on the whole 'I'm still alive' argument. The water on the floor rippled in waves as whatever was behind those massive bars came forward.

As the shadows shifted and began to take form, a blood red chakra leaked through the bars of the colossal prison and made the hair on his arms rise up. The room reverberating with a powerful growl and the sound of swishing air suddenly brought a sense of familiarity. Somewhere, in the chaos of his mind, a sense of déjà vu came over.

The shadows formed two raging eyes of crimson eyes at war with ink black slits and massive teeth that could dwarf a man twice his height. It was a fox. A bloody giant fox with nine massive tails thrashing behind it!

And suddenly, he felt something click within himself. The throbbing in his cranium receded to a dull ache and certainty settled over him. Memories firmly became lucid and orderly. Everything began to clear and started to make sense. In that moment he _knew_.

"Kurama? Well damn if you haven't gotten big!"

The air tensed and suddenly everything went still and deathly quiet. Did he say something wrong? Without warning Kurama, let out a ferocious roar and threw himself at the cage. Hell-bent on getting out, and judging by the sheer hatred in his eyes, tearing him to shreds. Of course the sudden action had startled him and caused him to fall back in sock and fear.

"**WRETCHED CHILD! WHO DARED TO GIVE YOU MY NAME?"**

He was forced to cover his ears, both to block out the earth-shattering roars as well as to futilely attempt to push the raging pain in his head away as it returned.

"Sweet Shinju," he cried out in pain. "The hell is your problem!? Matatabi set your tails on fire again!?"

The roars dropped to a series of vicious growls and the colossus spoke once more with an underlying current of menace.

"**You speak of things you should have no knowledge of! How did you come about of such forbidden information?"**

He glared up at the fox as he let go of his now very much hurting ears. "What nonsense are spouting you useless clump of fur! Of course I would know your name! I was there when you were born!"

"**WHAT!"**

He quickly covered his again as he could _feel_ his brain rattle within his head. He most certainly wouldn't walk away without some sort of permanent damage to his mental capacity after all this. He looked back at the gaping fox and, if it weren't for the insanity inducing pain, he would have laughed at how its jaw seemed to have unhinged.

"Is there a particular reason you have to scream every sentence you speak," he said scathingly. "Or did the time you fell into the ocean and nearly drown deprive your brain of so much oxygen that it left you an idiot?"

The fox continued to gape at him stupidly. Really, he could feel the irritation begin to overcome the pain in his mind. "Honestly, I should have listened to Indra and let him leash you," he muttered to himself while shaking his head. "Now care to explain to me where we are and just why you're behind a cage?"

"**A-Ashura?" **Kurama asked disbelievingly.

He rolled his eyes in complete exasperation. Honestly? The bijuu, for all their power, were a retarded lot.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hahahah! I bet you liked that twist at the end! Yeah, this has been sitting around for a looong time in my flash drive. Since I haven't updated in nearly a month, I thought I'd give you guys something to read in the meantime. I swear the ideas in my head are endless. I've got another three drafts on completely different stories. One Naruto, one One Piece and a Harry Potter. Alas! Poor NEX! He has no time!<br>**

**Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed this. Send me your thoughts and all your criticisms. Oh, I have to give credit to where it's due. Major recognition to _Birth of the Forest _by_ Karldin. _The idea for the past life thing came from there. **

**Oh! I haven't made any pairings for this story because I couldn't think of any. Give me who you think is best suited or you want to see because currently I'm leaning towards Yugito. Yeah yeah, I know; NEX and his fetish for mature women.**

**Well, I'm off to study some more. Hope you enjoyed.  
><strong>

**Laters, CE-NEX**

**P.S: I'm not sure if you guys know but the manga ended. Boy was I disappointed...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Like I said, I'm back in writing mode. I'll have a founders chapter up by the end of the week. **

**This chapter was hard as hell to write. I had to write from Asura's, Hashirama's, Sarutobi's and Naruto's point of view. With Naruto, all of his past lives will mesh together so only expect the sudden shift in personalities in this chapter. After that it will be one character with one thought patterns. **

**It has come to my attention the actual spelling is 'Asura' not 'Ashura.' My apologies for the mistake.**

**Hope You Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Guess Who's Back?<strong>

"Let me get this straight," Naruto said with a disbelieving look. "The fool actually goes and summons a primordial. _Death itself._ And has it seal you away into two halves."

"**Yes," **Kurama simply stated.

Naruto let out a long, suffering sigh and dragged his hands over his face and through his hair. "Of all the asinine…what was he _thinking_," he hissed.

"**He wasn't. He was panicking."**

Naruto gave Kurama a look that clearly said, 'as if that's a liable excuse.'

No wonder his current incarnation completely remembered _all_ of his past lives! You don't summon the embodiment of death and _not _expect any longstanding consequences! And then his current self ends up absorbing a great deal of chakra from his predecessor and the meeting of the two identical life energies triggered the death energies within the seal!

It had been a miracle his brain hadn't been fried or his soul vaporized! It was no laughing matter having a few dozen lifetimes worth of memories, thoughts and emotions shoved into an eight year old mind!

It was lucky for him that Kurama was erecting mental barriers to keep his mind from overloading. It was a temporary solution but it would do for now. It would take years of deep meditations to sort through and compartmentalize _all _his memories. Currently, Naruto could only remember his time as Ashura and Hashirama, although some memories of his most recent self were leaking through. Suddenly a thought occurred to him and he frowned heavily.

"**What is it?"**

"If Hashirama was Ashura," he started slowly. "Then Madara must have been Indra. It's not even funny how much Indra changed over the centuries. Granted he remained an asshole."

Kurama let out a menacing growl and Naruto hummed in agreement. "Yes, I find it odd that Indra would fall as low as to completely give into the temptations of power. He always preached that without control and discipline, we are but mindless beasts. I wonder what happened to him."

Sighing to himself, Naruto stood up and brushed his pants off.

"Well, enough idle speculation. Let's get you out of there, shall we?"

"**Yes, let's. I have been caged for too long in the last century! Even if I cannot be entirely free some tail-space would be much appreciated!"**

"I suppose I must apologize for that. It's my fault that you've been cooped up for so long in the first place. Not to mention that I did the same to the others as well. How could the people have forgotten all of our history? How could my own children?"

"**The fault lies not with you. Hashirama may have been Ashura but, Ashura has **_**never**_** been Hashirama."**

Naruto smiled at the bijuu's words. "Thank you old friend. But I still find it disconcerting that so much has been forgotten. Surely someone aside from you nine remembers the truth? It's not like there was an attempt to hide it."

"**While you pose valid questions, your efforts would be currently better directed at giving me my freedom, even if it's only a partial one at that."**

Naruto chuckled quietly while walking towards the giant prison. He leaned forward while cupping his chin in his hand as he examined the web of chakras so intricately woven by using his own chakra. "Hmm, an even number seal possessing a codex based on a double four symbol seal to create an eight trigrams skeleton. And then we have the personal touch of Death." He shivered as he saw the void-like properties of the entity's chakra.

"**You can remove it then?" **Asked the fox anxiously.

"Oh, quite easily to be sure," Naruto replied while releasing his chakra forwards. As his chakra made contact with the seal, it began to latch onto it, turning the chains of invisible chakra entwined between the bars a molten red. As they began to hiss, they slowly faded away and allowed Kurama's chakra to flow out more naturally and in less constrained amounts.

"Now for the main seal."

Water gathered around Naruto's feet and slowly raised towards the piece of paper that said, 'seal.' '_Really original that piece of work is_,' he thought dryly. He reached out, grabbed the paper and was about to pull it off when a strong hand suddenly gripped his wrist. He followed the hand up the arm it was attached to an all too familiar face.

Clearly shocked, Naruto said the first thing that came to mind, "Who the fuck are you?"

* * *

><p>He was an imprint. He knew that. Chakra preserved in case of an emergency right before his true self died but, that didn't stop him from being ridiculously happy. He stared at his son with a blinding smile. <em>His son!<em>

He had gotten to see Naruto for a grand total of maybe fifteen minutes before fate had been cruel enough to take everything away from him. He drank in his son's profile. He was rather short but, that just meant that his son was still young. He had his spikey blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes. Naruto's skin was slightly tan and his face was a perfect mix between Kushina and him. He could see the soft edges of his wife in Naruto's cheek bones and jaw.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Apparently she was present in his mouth too.

Minato smiled even brighter. What should he say? What should he do? Did he look okay or was he still the haggard mess he was during the sealing? _Sweet Sage_ what should he _say_?

"Are you all right? You look kind of sick," his son said warily.

"**Yondaime Hokage!" **a dark voice growled out.

Minato looked into the cage and narrowed his eyes at the mass of malice and rage that was solely focused on him. "Kyuubi," he said in a quiet yet strong voice. "I was hoping to never have to see you again."

"**Step in here and we can rectify that," **the beast spat.

"_You're _the fourth?" his son's awed voice asked. Minato turned back to Naruto with his chest swelling with pride. Obviously pleased that his son was in awe of him.

"No offence but you look like a girl."

And there went his pride. It didn't help that the Kyuubi was howling with laughter behind its cage. Minato hung his dejectedly and muttered, "Yeah, I get that a lot." Everyone told him that dammit! Jiraiya-sensei used to make fun of him for it. His own genin ridiculed him! Hell even his enemies cried out they refused to die by such a wimpy looking shinobi!

"So what can I do for you? I doubt you appeared in my head when you're supposed to be dead for a simple chat and what's the deal with all the dead Hokage recently?"

Minato scratched the back of his head sheepishly and said, "Well, I put a failsafe within the seal in case you were ever close to releasing the kyuubi. I'm here to stop you and strengthen the seal again in case."

"Oh," Naruto said before turning around and proceeding to take the seal off. Minato quickly grabbed him and pulled back. "What are you doing!?" he asked in absolute shock.

"Taking the seal off," Naruto responded with a confused look.

Minato stared at his son, not comprehending just what he heard. "_Why?"_

"Why not?"

"Because the Kyuubi is evil! You can't let out!"

Naruto looked at him as if he just said something completely insane. "Evil? According to whom?"

Minato couldn't believe he was having this conversation. He never expected that his son would want to _release _the kyuubi of his own volition. "It goes around destroying and killing people," he said frantically.

Naruto rolled his eyes at him. Was this a case of rebellion? Was he already at that age? Admittedly, all those books on parenting he had read, while Kushina was pregnant, never mentioned anything about what to do if your child attempts to unleash a massive demon fox the size of a mountain from its prison.

"Name one time the fur ball attacked without being provoked first."

Minato opened his mouth to respond immediately but when he tried to give an example he oddly found that he couldn't think of one. Honestly all the old tales were of armies being wiped out _because_ they attacked the kyuubi. And the last two major appearances by the nine-tailed fox were due to individual Uchiha.

"Uh-huh," his son said, unimpressed. "I thought so. Now get lost. Shoo."

"Naruto wait!" he called out. "Please, you can't just release it after all the sacrifices that were made to seal it in the first place. The kyuubi was the reason your mother and I died!"

Naruto looked at him suspiciously and he could see and undercurrent of anger within his eyes. "And just what, does my mother have to do with this," he whispered with a trace of steel in his voice.

Minato gave a nervous smile. It seemed old Sarutobi had kept his promise to keep Naruto safe and away from the dangers of his and Kushina's enemies. Oh boy…how was he supposed to deal with this? He wished his wife was here. She was much better at the blunt and direct approach then he was.

"You see, there really is no easy way for me to say this but…I'm your father."

Silence greeted him as Naruto just tried to absorb that information. He hoped he wouldn't hate him for dying on him. He wasn't exactly Father of the Year material. Knowing his son for under a grand total of fifteen minutes before sticking a demon in his gut via suicide.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look. "You look nothing like my old man."

Well that wasn't the reaction Minato expecting. Tears of joy? Perfectly normal. Angry outburst? Fully acceptable. Denial of the fact? Orphans tended to do that. Claiming someone else as his father? No idea where that came.

"You weren't adopted by any chance," he asked tentatively.

"How dare you!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly. "I'll have you know that my parents are my biological ones! Everyone says that I'm the spitting image of my father. Minus the horns and three eyes, I mean."

'_Horns? Three eyes? He's not being raised by the circus is he!?'_

"**He means your current self, fool." **

"Oh…Ohhhh. Well that answers so many questions about why I was chosen as_ his_ container. Which reminds me."

Naruto's eyes flashed towards him and Minato gulped at how much he was suddenly reminded of an angry Kushina. "You and I are going to have a little chat about messing with the natural order of things."

* * *

><p>Naruto's eyes slowly, opened. He laid there on the cold, hard tiles and stared at the wooden ceiling of the underground library lifelessly. So many secrets had been revealed and some many more questions were born. Foremost among them; who was he?<p>

Asura Ōtsutsuki.

The younger son of the Sage of the Six Paths. His chosen heir. Father to the Senju and Uzumaki. The one who defeated Indra and ended his desire to unify the land through conquest and power. His strength was unquestionable. He was the strongest human after his father had died and attempted to establish peace through understanding and compassion.

Hashirama Senju.

Patriarch of the Senju clan. Reincarnation of Asura. Only known wielder of the fabled Mokuton. Founder of Konoha. The one who ended Madara in his bout of insanity and single handedly laid the foundations of the weapons known as Jinchuuriki. He hated war. Yet, he was unmatched in it. They had called him a god…and he them believe it.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Reincarnation of Asura and Hashirama. Last scion of the Uzumaki clan. Jinchuuriki of Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox. The one who does not understand love as he never experienced it; and like all humans, craves what he does not have. He has nothing to claim, save for his name. Yet, what a name it is.

And there more.

_Many _more.

Dozens of lives. Each with their own lives and memories. Thoughts, expressions, beliefs…he knew them all. He was them all.

'_For we are legion.'_

Asura, who had been reborn countless times amongst his own decedents, carved history in his wake.

'_Madness.'_

Each mind pulling. Every personality vying for dominance. The whispers of long unfulfilled desires. His very soul marred by the warring remnants of his reawakened past.

'_Struggle.'_

But they all knew. They all had seen war. They had knowledge of what was most important. He had to survive. And survive he _will._

Naruto sat up and waited for the fog to clear his mind and his eyes to regain their focus. He had spoken with his father, released Kurama from his prison and had been able to speak to his mother as, she too, had a chakra imprint hidden away within him. Everything fell into place. He would walk away from this and persevere.

And walk he did. Right out of the library and into the main hall of the underground compound he had built with his one-time brother. As he approached the exit, a smile, unbidden, came to his lips. Hime, they had named the tree. An apt name for the life they had nurtured as a symbol of their promise. Of their dreams.

He placed a hand on the wall and pushed through some of his chakra. A hidden door revealed itself and sunk into the ground to unveil a staircase that led up. Slowly, he walked up, dragging his hands across the smooth wood that held so many memories of two men who had dared to dream. Two men, who had no idea of just how deep their fate was interwoven.

As he reached the end of the stairway that led high up, he was faced with another wall. Repeating his actions with the entrance, a portion of the wall slid up and unveiled a cloudy night sky. Right before he took a step out of his elder sanctuary, a thought came to him.

He raised his hands to his face and a frown took his lips.

'_I am powerful again. Powerful…and dread.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto gazed at the streets and rooftops bathed in the eerie sheen of silver moonlight. He ran a hand through his pale locks, his hair no longer spiky and untamed. It was messy and flat. Falling across his face and giving him slightly androgynous features. He smiled.<p>

_His_ village.

After speaking with his mother, he had pondered on what to do about his sudden influx of memories. His mind would shatter under the strain of being overloaded with all the information from his past lives. So he had decided on sealing them away.

Using a complex series of seals, an understanding granted to him by Asura and Hashirama, he replaced Kurama with the majority of his past. Seeing as Hashirama had been his most recent self, he decided to let him remain as the dominant self. What had been mere seconds in reality, was actually hours of mental debate for him.

Would it be fair for his current self to be over ridden by Hashirama? Was it fair that Naruto had to take a back seat in his own soul? It was only until Kurama had pointed out they were, virtually, all the same being that, he had acquiesced to seeing the wisdom of allowing his personality as Hashirama to take over. Hashirama was Naruto and Naruto was Hashirama. That held true for all the others as well.

He would not separate himself into pieces and various names. They were all him. He was all of them. There was no difference.

So he sealed away his past selves, so that they could be slowly integrated into his mind as Kurama's chakra had gradually melded into his own. It would take years, decades even, yet he was content with the situation. However, he still needed to meditate for lengthy periods of time in order for Hashirama's and Asura's mindsets to settle into his own without causing too much mental damage. Two lives, were still too much to assimilate at once.

Naruto smiled widely. Yeah, it was good to be back. He had never felt better. He was given a great chance by fate to lead a fulfilled life. One filled with happiness and little to no regrets. He glanced down at the stone he was standing on and his smile grew even wider. He had to admit, the irony was not lost on him. Standing on his own gargantuan head after he had died nearly sixty years ago was an amusing paradox.

"First things first," he sighed.

'_I should go see Hiruzen. The boy has made me proud in both lives that I have known him. He deserves to know the truth.'_

Just as he was about to gather his chakra into his feet and launch himself into the stale night air, a voice called out to him.

"Naru-chan!"

Naruto turned in confusion, only to be enveloped in a tight embrace that he couldn't shake himself out of. Reincarnation of the strongest humans to exist or not, he was eight years old and had no serious muscle mass on his slim body.

As the strong arms loosened and hands settled on his shoulders, Naruto was able to take a step back and get a good look at his…hugger.

What he saw was a feline porcelain mask framed by long purple strands of silk. Slender arms were attached to a just as lean body with long shapely legs. All of it clad in black. "Cat," he said in surprised recognition. The waves of distress and concern were quite obvious to even his, currently, untrained chakra sensory abilities.

"Baby do you have any idea how worried I've been looking for you?" She asked. Then she launched into a series of questions that he could barely, make out due to the sheer speed at which she asked them. "Are you okay? Where have you been? You're not hurt are you? Do you need to go to the hospital? What were you thinking?"

Her hands began roaming around his body and he tried to push them away as he didn't want to be fussed over. ANBU operative codenamed Cat; had been his handler since he was five. She looked after him and was always keeping an eye on him. Whether it be protection, making sure he didn't get lost or to keep him from falling in with the wrong crowd. She had been by his side consistently and he had loved her for it.

"I'm fine Cat," he smiled gently at her.

"Where have you been," she asked with mild censure. "You know that it's not safe for you during the festival."

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uhh…hehehehe…I just wanted to get a closer look at the Yondaime's face. You know…it's the big festival and all…not to mention my birthday." He hated having to lie to her. She was such a beautiful soul. Around him, her behavior was very un-ANBU like yet, she was still considered one of the most effective captains within the organization.

"Ohh, Naruto," she said before enveloping him in a hug again. "I'm so sorry you have to go through this."

For his part, Naruto was doing his best to keep the blush on his face down. Even with the armor in between, his face was being pressed into her chest with no small amount of force. He could tell she was easily a c-cup, just a few shy of landing herself a pair of D'd.

No! Stopstopstop! You're a married man! Mito will kill you! Besides, Cat is practically family! We can't stoop to Tobirama's level and pounce on anything with a descent figure! However, a traitorous part of mind began to whisper.

"_Hashirama and Asura may have been married but, Naruto is quite single and still young…"_

Strengthening his resolve, Naruto attempted to get out of Cat's hug. Finding the young boy squirming in her embrace, Cat let go of him and she stood up so that she was no longer kneeling to be on eye level with him.

"Hey Cat," Naruto said.

"Hmm?"

"Can we go see the old man?"

"Sure," she giggled.

Naruto knew that it was a source of amusement for the ANBU when he referred to Hiruzen by such casual and, sometimes, derogatory titles. Cat placed a hand on his shoulder and Naruto heard her say, "Hold on, Naru-chan."

* * *

><p>Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, was a very tired man. October tenth did not hold any fond memories for him. He had lost a wife, a successor and a great of friends on this day eight years ago. When Kushina's seal was broken, all hell was let loose and the abomination known as the Kyuubi was unleashed onto the village of Konoha. The Yondaime Hokage and his wife, gave their lives to seal away the beast into their newborn son and died doing it.<p>

When all was said and done, he had gazed down onto a baby not even a few hours old and realized that one day, that child would become great. Unfortunately, he was part of a very small minority that felt that way. Most of the world only seemed to see the demon lodged within the boy, rather than Naruto himself. And they treated him just as they saw him. As a monster. To many, he was something that should be killed. To others, something that should be locked away. And to a disturbing few, something that should be made into a weapon.

And every year, on this day, all these groups would get together and attempt to end the poor boy's life or do him some form of harm. So every tenth of October, he had the young boy kept with him to ensure his safety. Unfortunately, Naruto had his own ideas this year and snuck away. He had sent a quad of ANBU to find him before someone else did.

He sighed to himself. Naruto was far too much like his mother to actually obey orders or _any _form of authority. Kushina Uzumaki had her own set of laws. The only person she really obeyed was Mito Uzumaki.

Sarutobi shuddered.

_Everyone _obeyed Mito-sama. The woman was like a force of Nature when angered. He had seen both Senju brothers reduced to bloody and writhing messes on the floor of this very office when her wrath was set free. He long had a sneaking suspicion that the stain hidden underneath one of his bookcases was Tobirama-sensei's blood splatter.

There was knock on his door and he sharply said, "Enter." The door to his office opened to reveal one Yugao Uzuki; codenamed, Cat. One of his most prominent and efficient ANBU captains. And she was walking hand in hand with a young boy that barely reached her waist in height.

Sarutobi blinked in confusion. While he recognized the boy as Naruto, it had taken him a few seconds to do so. The boy's sun kissed yellow hair seemed paler and smoother. Like liquid gold almost. His features seemed more angular and…he looked taller than what he remembered. It hadn't been _that _long since he last saw Naruto. Had he really gotten so old that he had not noticed the boy growing and developing?

"Hokage-sama," his ANBU captain said respectfully.

"Yo, Jiji." Naruto said in the complete opposite manner as Yugao.

Sarutobi smiled at the young Uzumaki's exuberance. His disposition was a near replica of his parents. Again, he felt a pang of guilt and sorrow at not being able to give Naruto the life he deserved. However, that road only led to more additional grief with Naruto, possibly losing his life to assassins.

"Thank you Cat," he said. "For finding him so quickly. You may retire for the evening. Dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." With that she turned around and left albeit, not before ruffling the boy's hair and causing him to scowl.

"Naruto, why don't you have a seat," he said indicating one of the chairs in front of his desk. "I'll have someone go get us some ramen and until then, you can tell me why you left the safety of the Hokage Mansion."

The boy let out a sigh and slunk into the chair he had indicated. He remained silent and looked down so, Sarutobi was unable to see his eyes and tell what he was thinking.

"Well," he asked. "Are you going to explain to me your reasoning, my boy?"

Letting out another sigh, Naruto looked up and Hiruzen was left speechless by what he saw. Naruto's eyes, those brilliant sapphire eyes, looked old. Far, _far _too old.

Naruto sat up straight, his shoulders square, his hands lying on the arms of the chair and his legs crossed in an elegant manner. The scene before him tugged at a distant memory in his mind but, he couldn't quite place it.

"Our blood sings with our swords. Our souls call to the fallen. Our will is indomitable. We are the embers that provide the sustenance for the leaves to burn. Call out our name."

"We are the Hokage," the Sandaime finished hoarsely.

With each word uttered out of Naruto's mouth, the old Hokage's eyes had grown wider and wider. No one, and he meant _no one, _should know those words. The only people that knew those words were dead. It was the code. The code written by the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He had written those words on a scroll that had been left to his brother Tobirama Senju. A scroll, which Tobirama-sensei had left in a secure, hidden place that only he knew of. A scroll, which he had given to Minato on the night he was named Hokage.

"How do you kn-"

"The leaves are rustling.'

Again, Sarutobi was left speechless. 'The leaves are rustling.' In other words, 'there are too many eyes and ears within the immediate vicinity.

Silently he motioned his ANBU guards to clear his office. He was so bewildered, he didn't even realize he left himself alone with someone who might not be the young boy he had come to care for so greatly.

As Naruto let loose another sigh, the Sandaime saw his features school into an impassive and cool mask. His gaze was unyielding and steeled.

"Initiating Hokage Directive Four."

This was too much. The elderly Hokage was about to pinch himself because he _knew _this had to a dream. The Hokage Directives were a set of orders known _only_ to the Hokage and the highest echelons of the ANBU. Not some eight year child. Directive four, in particular, was when the Hokage was about to reveal S-rank classified intel.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure."

Sarutobi almost found himself straightening his posture at Naruto's tone. It was sharp, authoritative. A quality that only someone who was used to snapping orders and _expected _to be obeyed had.

Before he could open his mouth and demand what was going on, Naruto began to speak in a professional and clipped tone.

"At near nineteen-hundred hours on October tenth, of the year XX97, subject Naruto Uzumaki, a.k.a the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, accidently discovered a compound created by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha upon attempting to hide from a riot mob."

Sarutobi's jaw unhinged and it fell right onto his desk as his eyes sprang from his sockets.

However, much to his dismay, Naruto continued on without batting an eyelash.

"Within the compound is a scroll that was also created by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. The scroll is an intricate set of the highest level of fuinjutsu that utilizes a space-time ninjutsu within a genjutsu. It is, in truth, a yin-yang release technique. By taking the user's chakra, the scroll converts it into the chakra of one Hashirama Senju."

Sarutobi couldn't take it anymore. Such a thing existed in his village and he _didn't_ know about it?!

"A chakra imprint is created of the Shodaime Hokage who is to provide advanced instruction to the shinobi utilizing the scroll. Subject Naruto Uzumaki invoked sentiments within the chakra imprint. Hashirama's shade decided to use the **[Ningen no Umarekawari no Jutsu] [Human Reincarnation Technique]**

"Details of the technique are listed within the Scroll of Forbidden Seals. However, upon performing the jutsu, an unforeseen consequence from the sealing of the Kyuubi into the subject, caused an unheard of phenomena."

"Unforeseen consequence?" Sarutobi asked weakly.

"The **[Shiki Fujin] [Dead Demon Consuming Seal] **was labeled a kinjutsu of the highest order by the Uzumaki not because of the cost of the user's life but, the disturbance of the balance in the natural order of things caused by the physical manifestation death itself."

Sarutobi slumped in his chair, absolutely horrified at what he was hearing. He knew of both techniques that Naruto named. First of all, that Naruto, childish, immature _Naruto_ knew of them made his heart nearly stop. Secondly, Naruto also knew he was a jinchuuriki. Thirdly, there was a secret compound built by Konoha's founding fathers.

Sweet Sage was he ready to retire from his job!

Tragically, he knew that Naruto was far from done.

"Death's involvement in sealing away the Kyuubi left an imprint of its energies that unhinged Naruto Uzumaki's soul. When the **[Ningen no Umarekawari no Jutsu] **was preformed, it reacted with the energies of Death. Unbeknownst to Hashirama Senju and Naruto Uzumaki, the latter is the reincarnation of the former."

His mind broke. He knew he wasn't hearing this.

"Naruto Uzumaki _is _Hashirama Senju. The Shodaime Hokage lives."

Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Professor. The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha fainted on the spot.

* * *

><p>'<em>Well,' <em>Naruto mused. _'That went better than I thought it would.'_

He was currently looking a Hiruzen's unconscious form laid out on his desk. He decided to take things seriously and tell Hiruzen from the start exactly what was going in the professional way possible so that there would be no room for additional questions and or speculation.

While Hiruzen recovered from his shock, Naruto decided to take a look around what had been his old office. There were several changes yet, most of it still remained the same. Same walls, same carpet, hell even some of the furniture was his. Although, all of his plants seemed to have been removed. Not that he had expected them to remain after Tobirama became Hokage. His younger brother had never had much of a green thumb.

Strolling casually over to one of the several book cases, Naruto looked at the numerous titles. There were books on history, calligraphy, cartography and cultures of the world. It seemed young Hiruzen had grown up to be quite the scholar. One particular book caught his eye. It was small orange book with the title of Icha Icha. He reached out and opened it. After reading the first paragraph, he decisively shut the book and put it back.

Perhaps he still has some growing left to do.

"Urrgghhh."

Speak of the devil. It seemed he finally decided to wake up. Walking back to the chair and taking a seat, Naruto looked at his rousing student with a small smile.

Blinking away the drowsiness, Sarutobi looked at Naruto and asked blearily, "…Naruto?"

He snorted. "Enjoy your nap, Hiruzen?"

The Sandaime looked at him for a few seconds before groaning and throwing his face into his hands. "It wasn't all just a dream was it?"

"No I'm afraid not, my boy."

This time it was the Old Hokage's turn to snort and before he could say anything Naruto said, "Before you ask me any questions, carefully think over everything I've said in the last fifteen minutes or so."

He could tell his old student wanted to protest but quickly nodded and closed his eyes in deep thought. Naruto crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap as he sat patiently. After, about five minutes had passed, Hiruzen opened his eyes and finally said, "This is quite the conundrum."

Naruto chuckled. "An understatement if anything."

"The Human Reincarnation Technique. I thought it died with Tobirama-sensei."

Naruto shook his head, "Tobirama knew _of _the jutsu. However, I never taught it to him and as far as I know, Madara took it to the grave with him as well. After we created it, we deemed it too dangerous for others to use. There are too many factors that could go wrong with it."

"Yet you used it on Naruto," the old man said with just a hint of venom.

"Peace, Hiruzen," he said while raising his arms in a calming gesture. "As I said, it was too dangerous for others however, with myself or Madara, there is little chance of any oversights."

"Yet that was exactly what happened!" Hiruzen snapped in anger. "Because of the Reaper's chakra, it is you who sits before me instead of Naruto! An innocent child robbed of his life!"

"You misunderstand," Naruto said gently. "Naruto and Hashirama are one in the same. Always have been."

"What?" the Sandaime asked confusedly.

Naruto sighed quietly. "Hashirama Senju's soul was reincarnated as one Naruto Uzumaki over eight years ago. However, when my current self was exposed to my past self's chakra, it reacted with the seal and brought back all of my memories as Hashirama. Well, maybe more than just my memories."

The Sandaime stared at him for a few moments before going wide eyed. "Naruto was Hashirama-sama from the beginning?"

A small smile spread on Naruto's lips. "Yes and no. I can hardly say I'm an expert on this subject. Everything I say is pure conjecture at this point however, it is my belief that upon reincarnation, a soul is wiped clean if you will. A new life for a new beginning."

"I see. You said 'more than just your memories'. Care to elaborate sensei?"

Naruto laughed at being addressed as 'sensei' by Hiruzen. Physically? He just turned eight years old. Mentally? Well, he had dozens of lifetimes of experiences to call upon.

"I meant this," he said while holding up his hand and letting a branch sprout from in between his fingers and then blossom into Sakura petals. He then let the chakra recede from his hand, causing the plant to retreat back into his hand.

A moment of silence passed between the two Hokage. Each sat there lost in thought. "What will you do now?" Hiruzen asked him.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Do? Is it necessary for me to 'do' anything? Can I not just carry on as Naruto Uzumaki? Hashirama Senju lies a rotting corpse. Yet, Naruto has an entire future ahead of him. I am content to let things stay that way."

"Well, if anything, I'm glad I can finally pass this damn hat onto someone."

Naruto couldn't help but start laughing loudly at Hiruzen's words. "I'm sorry Hiruzen," he said while wiping away tears from the corners of his eye. "But I'm going to have to respond to your generous offer with an emphatic 'Fuck' and 'You'."

Hiruzen stared at him with open horror at his words. "Oh don't give me that look!" he snapped. "I've told you, I'm Naruto now, not Hashirama. And being Naruto means I'm free from acting under certain social constraints. I get to talk, walk and do as I please from now on."

"B-but! It's Naruto's dream to become Hokage!" the Sandaime exclaimed.

"Yes," Naruto said dryly. "That was before he remembered he was the _original _Hokage. As the children of this generation, or rather, _my _generation say, 'been there, done that.'"

"But you have to!"

"And pray tell me, why?" He asked in honest curiosity.

"Be-because!"

"Oh, yes," Naruto snorted in contempt. "Very persuasive of you Hiruzen. I'm glad to see you've grown so eloquent while I've been dead."

"B-but, but sensei!" the old Hokage whined.

"Oh stop being so childish," chided Naruto. "Look at this from my point of view! I founded the village, I protected the village, hell I even _died _for the village!"

"I've been given a second chance! To have the childhood I never had! Do you know life was like for Tobirama and I as children? We woke up, trained, ate, trained some more, went to find some Uchiha to fight, went to bed, then repeated the next day! I will fulfill my childhood dream of being a rock star!"

"A rock star," Hiruzen yelled. "But you never had any talent as musician back then. In fact Mito-sama said your singing was as horrible as a dying cat's!"

"Bah!" he snarled. "I've already said what I've had to say for tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that he walked out the door, ignoring the tearful pleas of his one time student. Shutting the door behind, Naruto burst out laughing. Poor Hiruzen. He took everything so seriously. As if Naruto was honestly going to abandon the village he helped found. Still it was worth looking at the poor boy's expression when he announced he had no desire to take the hat back.

Naruto snorted inwardly. This was _his _village. Like hell he'd let someone else run the place when every damn building was built with the wood from his Mokuton.

'_This is my town!'_

"All done with your talk, Naru-chan?"

Naruto turned around in genuine surprise.

"Cat!" He said, reverting to his Naruto persona. "How come you're still here? Don't ya wanna enjoy the festival with everyone else?"

"No," she said with a small laugh. "I think I'll hang around with my favorite blonde."

"Yay! It's cuz I'm awesome, right?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah," she said, attempting to hold in her laughter. "You're the best. Come on. Let's get some ramen."

"Ramen!" he yelled excitedly.

As the two of them walked down the building hand in hand, Naruto said, "Hey, Cat?"

"Yes Naru-chan?"

"What's sex?"

She stopped cold on her feet and looked him dead in the eyes and asked with a strained voice, "What?"

Inwardly, Naruto smiled.

'_Oh yeah…Naruto Uzumaki is officially on the market!'_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: So pretty much, Naruto's got all of his memories from his past lives back. As in all of Asura's reincarnations. This won't be a 'God-mode' story. Naruto will have to gradually condition himself to reach the level of strength his predecessors possessed. <strong>

**I'll admit all the dialogue in this chapter was a bit too boring for my tastes. Anyway, this story will be Naruto going around doing as he pleases. He won't obsessed with getting stronger or reaching his dream as Hokage. It will be him just cruising along enjoying life and kicking everyone who dares to interrupt said enjoyment in the ass. **

**So says NEX! So shall it BE!**

** By the way, I'm leaning toward a womanizer/harem route. What do you guys think?**

****Anyways hope you enjoyed.****

**Later. CE-NEX**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Oh I had so much fun writing this chapter. **

**I've gotten a lot of crap about the whole 'taking a seat back in his soul' sentence. For those of you who proceeded to read the next few paragraphs that occurred right after said phrase; thank you!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Swaying to the Symphony<strong>

Yugao Uzuki was one of the younger members of the ANBU black ops division. Yet, despite her twenty years of age, she was considered one of the most accomplished shinobi in the village. She was a jounin at seventeen and had immediately applied for the harsh life of the ANBU. She liked to consider herself the strongest kunoichi within the village, barring the Sannin Tsunade of course.

Three years of outstanding service saw her promoted to one of the highest echelons within Konoha's military structure, an ANBU captain. She was the fourth youngest in history; right behind Orochimaru, Kakashi Hatake and Itachi Uchiha. All three, which her superiors teasingly reminded her at nearly every occasion they could, went insane in some way or another. Nevertheless, her record was unblemished and there wasn't a single moment where she felt dissatisfied with her decision to join the organization.

Except for one time.

When her first major solo mission came up and she was assigned the position of Naruto Uzumaki's handler; she immediately felt that she was being dealt a case of gender discrimination in the form of glorified babysitting.

Of course when, within the first week of her assignment she foiled no less than three assassination attempts, she quickly changed her tune.

She never really held anything against the young jinchuuriki, despite having lost her father against the nine tailed menace all those years ago. Yet, when she first met the boy, she couldn't help but be wary of him. Jinchuuriki had always been talked about with a tone of macabre reverence.

Virtual engines of destruction that annihilated everything before them without prejudice.

The Yonbi and Gobi jinchuuriki had wrecked devastation on the Iwa front during the third war. Even, the Yondaime Hokage's **[Hiraishin]** wasn't enough to kill them. Yagura, the Sanbi jinchuuriki, had cut a swath of corpses in Water country and the Hachibi jinchuuriki, along with the Raikage, could single handedly hold off an entire army.

And here was Konoha's own little powerhouse. Naruto Uzumaki; the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Out of all the tailed beast, the ninth was said to be in a league of its own. And she was inclined to believe it when she remembered that dreaded day of October tenth.

However, the jinchuuriki seemed to be nothing like its bijuu. Her first impression was that of a painfully shy child who hid behind the venerable old Hokage and glanced from behind his legs. He had flinched when she first addressed him by name and mumbled out completely incoherent responses when she asked him questions.

Over time, she had managed to worm her way through his barriers and gotten him to open himself up to her. On most protection details, ANBU were hidden from the client and stalked from the shadows. However, the Hokage felt that it would be better for the young boy to have some company in his life so she often openly engaged with him.

Over the last three years, she fell in love with his bubbly personality and nearly infinite exuberance. His smile was always so bright and the warmth his eyes shone with, caused long suppressed maternal instincts to flutter in her heart. He had the most wonderful shade of gold-dappled hair and, _easily_, _the _most distinct star sapphire eyes. On more than one occasion, she found herself lost in those hauntingly familiar features; trying in vain to drag up some veiled memory. In all honesty, she found him absolutely _adorable._

He was the picture of naivety and innocence.

So when he asked, with all said naivety and innocence, what a cruder and more common way of saying copulation meant, she nearly fell flat on her face. Instead, she merely stopped dead on her feet and said the most intelligent that she could muster in that moment.

"…What?"

He looked up at her, those big blue eyes shining with innocent curiosity and making her want to throw out years of training and squeal like a childish girl, and reiterated his question.

"Sex. What is it?"

She looked down at him, the text book definition of angelic purity and she felt a crushing grief hit her soul. She couldn't believe it. She didn't _want _to believe it. Her precious little Naru-chan was already being corrupted so young! She could practically _feel _her soul scream in despair!

Kneeling down and placing her hands on his shoulders, she shakily asked," Naru-chan, where did you learn that word?"

"Huh," he said with his face scrunching up in confusion in the absolute cutest way possible. He lifted a hand to his hair and began scratching in thought. "Jiji was busy with some paperwork so he told me to grab a book and read while he finished up. I got this small orange one and it was really weird."

Her heart froze in terror.

Nononononono! This wasn't happening! Yugao couldn't believe she failed in keeping her Naru-chan pure and untainted. She briefly debated the pros and cons of committing treason and murdering the old Hokage in cold fury. The sensible part of her told her that the old man would wipe the floor with her so she settled with tracking down Jiraiya of the Sannin and castrating him with a rusty knife.

"I mean," the little blonde continued. "Do girls really lick each other dow-umph mmm mmrrghhh."

Despite her hand quickly covering his mouth, little Naruto continued to yap away into her glove and she was torn between smiling at his cuteness and crying at his delving into the forbidden.

"Naru-chan, I need you to listen to me very carefully," she said in a voice, which she was surprised to find was shaky. Tilting his head in obvious confusion, he nonetheless, nodded his head into her still gripping hand.

"Never, ever, say that word again," she said sternly. "It's a bad word."

His eyes widened to unbelievable proportions and began to water. She immediately felt her heart clench and grabbed him in a crushing embrace, smothering his head into her chest. "Oh baby, I'm not mad at you," she cooed. "I just want to make sure you grow up into the nicest person possible. Okay?"

When she heard a muffled 'okay' she let go of him, tilted her mask back and pecked him on the cheek. Standing up and putting her mask back in place, she said, "Come on, let's get you some ramen."

"Yes! You're the best Cat!" The young boy exclaimed childishly.

Softly laughing to herself, Yugao took Naruto's hand in her own and led him out the building. All the while, completely ignorant of the fact that, her young companion for the night was sending up a prayer on behalf of one Madara Uchiha for inventing and perfecting the Puppy Dog Eyes technique.

* * *

><p>The next morning, a very smug Naruto strutted into Hokage mansion with an ostentatious smile plastered on his face. Several of the male personnel who were employed within the building or there on business, recognized the walk and look on his face. However, they quickly dismissed their notions as the idea of an eight year old boy getting laid was utterly preposterous.<p>

For his part, Naruto was simply glad he was just as good as dealing with women as he was in his past. In all his past lives, Naruto Uzumaki could be considered a connoisseur of women. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't some over glorified man-whore. Oh no, he was veritable ladies' man. He knew how to treat women, how to talk to them and, above all, how to please them. He figured it had something to do with the fact that, unlike his father or brother, Asura was born without the ever present scowl.

No, Naruto knew how to send a smile that made a woman weak in the knees or when to turn in the sunlight and slowly drag his hand through his hair; causing her to swoon. Yeah, he was good at what he did and dammit it all if he didn't enjoy it. Of course, at the age of eight, he really couldn't work any of his charm so he settled for killing his prey with unadulterated cuteness.

Poor Cat.

He felt really bad for using her as test dummy last night so he was determined to make it up to her somehow. For all the mischief he had pulled on her last night, he really did love her. For the last few years she had been his guardian angel.

At that thought, his eyes went wide as a sudden idea went off in his head and he filed it away for a later date.

Anyways, he would find something that showed her how much he really appreciated her in his life. Maybe jewelry or a free reservation at some high end restaurant? Suddenly he stopped and an involuntary chill went up his spine.

'_Damn,' _he thought. _'I'm acting like she's my wife or something.'_

Naruto had no desire to be tied down in commitment for another two decades or so. As far as he could tell, he was always faithful to his past wives however, all the women he had married had the strange disposition that they could use him as an outlet for their frustrations. Oh, the sex was great to be sure, but the beatings…

Another chill passed through him.

As he stopped his ascent of the Hokage mane and strolled his way to the desk of Jiji's secretary and gave a casual, "Yo."

The masked ANBU, who was currently the Hokage's secretary, looked up at him and smirked behind his mask with amusement. "Good morning, Uzumaki-san. How can I help you today?"

"Is Jiji in?"

"He is," the secretary said. "Hokage-sama said you would come by today however, I was expecting you later in the day. Seeing as how you should be in the academy right now for your lessons."

Naruto smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Oh you know," he said. "What's a few days missed here and there?"

The ANBU snorted in amusement. "I'm surprised Cat didn't drag you there. I'm going to assume you gave her the slip as usual?"

Naruto only responded with a nervous laugh.

The secretary only shook his head in amusement. "I'm so glad I took this desk job. Chasing you all across the village was beginning to give me grey hairs."

"Oh, you're not that old Turtle."

Naruto gave a small laugh when Turtle simply scoffed.

"Off with you, you little menace."

"Later Turtle," Naruto waved as he opened the Hokage's office.

Closing the door behind him, Naruto looked forward to see the old Hokage bent over desk, furiously scribbling away on the mountain of paperwork. Naruto chuckled inwardly as he remembered his days as Hokage and using his wood clones to do most of his workload. Not only were they incredibly durable, they carried over memories of whatever they did when they were dispelled. Last he remembered, Tobirama was hard at work trying to copy his 'life cheating' ability, as he had called it. Naruto pondered if Tobirama ever succeeded.

Looking up from the despair inducing pile of papers, the Sandaime Hokage greeted his predecessor/possible successor. "Hello Naruto-kun, had a pleasant night?"

Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement of his greeting and said, "Didn't really sleep at all really. Spent the entire evening meditating and sorting through my memories." He gave a dramatic sigh. "It's going to take me _months _to categorize through them all."

Sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his old desk, his eyes fell on a familiar massive scroll on the far end of his old desk. Blinking a few times, he pointed at the scroll and asked, "Is that…"

"Yes," the elder yet, paradoxically, younger Hokage said. "It's the Scroll of Sealing. I was researching the **[Ningen no Umarekawari no Jutsu] **but, unfortunately there wasn't much written about it."

"Pfft." Naruto disapprovingly scoffed. "Scroll of Sealing. I always thought it was dumb name. Who came up with it anyways?"

Sarutobi simple stared at him for a few seconds before stating, "You did."

"…Oh" Naruto said dumbly before he began to shift awkwardly in his seat.

"Anyways," Sarutobi said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them. "The scroll only has the vaguest details about the technique. It doesn't fully explain how it's preformed or how it even works. I was hoping you could elaborate."

Naruto frowned as he said, "Sorry Hiruzen, but I wrote it that way on purpose. There was a reason I never taught that technique to anyone including Mito-chan and Tobirama. It's simply too dangerous and unpredictable. In fact, I find it hard to believe that my chakra imprint even used it in the first place. I will have to go back and destroy the scroll just to make sure it never happens again."

"I would appreciate the opportunity to study the scroll before you destroy it," the old man said earnestly. "It's not every day you get to see something personally made by Konoha's founding fathers and if you weren't going to use the technique, then why develop it in the first place?"

"In all honesty," Naruto said with a bemused expression. "We were bored."

Hiruzen stared at him, disbelief clearly written across his face. "You created an S-class kinjutsu, simply because you were bored?" He asked incredulously.

Naruto shrugged before saying, "You have to understand, during the first few years of the village's creation, Madara and I had nothing to do really. After I created the surrounding forest and Madara raised the mountain, we-"

"Madara created the Hokage mountain!?" Sarutobi exclaimed in amazement.

"Yes he created the mountain," Naruto said exasperatedly while glaring at Hiruzen who had the decency to look abashed at his interruption. "Did you honestly not find it odd that there is a mountain all by itself when there are no other significant geographical landmarks around?"

Ignoring the sheepish look on Hiruzen's face, which looked_ exceptionally_ creepy on his wrinkled face, Naruto carried on. "As I was saying, before I was so _rudely _interrupted," he said, not being able to resist the jab. "Madara and I had minimal interactions with the actual development of the village. We spoke with various contractors, engineers and architects provided by the Daimyo to bring to life our designs but mostly, we just sat back and let others do the work."

"Somehow I always envisioned you two to be more glorious in your efforts during the founding."

Naruto shrugged and said. "I provided the wood for building with my Mokuton and Madara provided the incentive to get things done quickly with his death threats."

"Well, it's not like we just sat on our hands the_ whole_ time. We helped compromise among the clans who joined with us, negotiated with the Daimyo and coerced the local hoodlums but, aside from that, not much else. Our combined presence and the alliance between the Senju and Uchiha served as a deterrent to most would be assailants. Truthfully it was a peaceful few years."

The Sandaime Hokage chuckled. "The village ended up being much bigger than what you two envisioned, I wager."

"Tell me about it," the former Shodai said. "Did you know it was Madara who named the village Konohagakure? Of course by the end of that year there was nothing hidden about our village. By the time everything had settled, what was supposed to be a safe haven for the Uchiha and Senju, ended up being a city for every shinobi clan in the damn country."

"I was not aware that it was Madara who named our village. It seems I am indebted to him for providing the name of my grandson."

A wave of grief crashed through Naruto. All this talk about the founding of Konoha during his time of Konoha brought about the numerous memories of the brotherhood he shared with his old friend.

'_You idiot…why couldn't have you just stayed in the village? We could have died happy instead of filled with regrets.'_

Recognizing the look on Naruto's face, as he himself often wore it these days, the Sandaime Hokage turned his chair so that it was facing the massive window that let him look over his village. "She's grown strong," he said quietly.

Looking up from his lap, Naruto glanced out the window as well and let a sad smile grace his lips. "That she has," he whispered.

The two of them sat there in silence, gazing at the village sprawled below for several long moments. Naruto loved his village. Not just as the man who helped found it but, as the child who was born and grew up in it. Despite all the hardships he had endured in his eight year old life, he loved his home. The people on the other hand, he could soundly do without.

Back during the founding period, he could safely say that ninety percent of the village, or perhaps even more, had been shinobi. Now, well he would have to look at the official census as the population of Konoha had grown exponentially but, he'd hazard a guess around sixty percent. The forty percent that were civilians were assholes extraordinaire.

They gave tight-asses like Tobirama and Madara a run for their money. But he'll have his revenge. Oh yes. He _will _have his revenge!

"Oi Hiruzen," he said. Completely breaking the somber mood that had settled within the Hokage's office. The old man turned around and looked at Naruto with a somewhat surprised expression."

"Yes?"

"I need cash," Naruto said with his hand outstretched.

"Why?" Sarutobi asked hesitantly.

"Dude," Naruto said with a deadpanned expression.

Normally, Naruto would never be this rude to the old man. He'd be informal, oh yes but, never out right rude. Hashirama always maintained a friendly yet professional relationship with his shinobi but, he was never informal unless it was with old friends or family. The meshing of the two completely threw out what politeness the two alone ever possessed.

"I'm flat out broke, my apartment sucks and my clothes are shit. I mean look at this," he said while gesturing toward the neon orange shirt. "Orange was cool as a kid but, with the addition of fifty plus odd years' worth of memories, its plain embarrassing."

"Exactly how much do you need exactly?" Hiruzen asked with no small sense of apprehension.

"Not much…you know what? I have a better idea. I think my family deserves to know I'm back in the land of the living, so to speak. I'm sure they won't mind taking care of me. Provided I still have family…I do, right?"

"Well…," the Sandaime said, not too sure whether or not his sensei's reincarnation would appreciate the news he was about to relay. "Your only surviving relative would be Tsunade."

"Tsuna!" Naruto shouted. His eyes going bright and a massive smile covering his face at the thought of his adorable, once upon a time, angel of a granddaughter. "She's alive?" he asked excitedly.

"Err, yes…Tsunade is currently hailed as the most prominent medical genius in the world and is widely regarded as the strongest kunoichi in history."

Naruto couldn't help the torrent of emotions that welled up on behalf of his past as Hashirama and began to sniffle. "My baby girl is all grown up and I wasn't there to see it!" he cried.

"Y-Yes…and as Tsunade is currently out of the village on a…uh…_vacation_. I'll send someone to bring her back right away, as a family emergency has come up."

Carefully drying his eyes with one of Hiruzen's papers, Naruto said, "It's good to know that there are people from my old life are still around."

'_And I've long had a sneaking suspicion father is still sticking around somewhere as well,' _Naruto thought as he remembered doubts he had harbored as Asura.

"Well, there are still a few of us still around that you might remember. Koharu and Homura are still alive as well."

"Huh? Seriously?" Naruto asked in complete shock. "Just how old_ are_ you exactly?"

"Old enough," the Sandaime muttered.

"Regardless, it will be nice to talk as my old self to more than just you. I can't wait to spoil Tsuna all over again!"

"Before you gain any preconceived notions in your head," Hiruzen told him carefully. "I must warn you that Tsunade might be somewhat…_hesitant _to return with all the debts she has incurred with the local banks."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hiruzen, I was rich when I died. _Filthy _rich. I doubt Mito and Tsuna _combined _could spend all that money."

Tentatively, the Sandaime Hokage said, "Tsunade didn't spend so much as she _gambled _your impressive fortune away."

"What," Naruto iterated, his face going completely slacken.

"Tsunade…she…err…well, she inherited your love for casinos without inheriting any of your extraordinary luck within them."

"…."

"Well fuck."

"Adequate if crude," the Sandaime said.

Vigorously rubbing his temples, Naruto knew back then, as Hashirama, that spoiling Tsunade would come back to haunt him, he just never figured it'd happen _after _he died. Perhaps he should have listened to Mito when she said poker is not a wholesome family game.

"Hey, Hiruzen."

"…Yes."

"Spot me ten grand and point me in the direction of a nearest casino, would you?"

* * *

><p>Two hours later, one of his wood clones disguised as a civilian came back into the room and handed Naruto a large metal briefcase before it melded back into him. Taking the heavy thing and dumping it on Hiruzen's desk with a thud, Naruto smiled.<p>

"Be a good boy Hiruzen and set up a dummy account for me and deposit this."

Eyes not leaving the metal case, the elderly Hokage asked, "How much?"

"A little shy of 17.5 million. Tell you what, deposit seventeen clean and keep the remainder for yourself. By that grandkid of yours something nice."

With that he walked out the large office smirking, leaving a stunned Hokage behind.

'_Leaving Hiruzen a gaping mess is so entertaining. I just might have to make a habit out of it.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto was stuck with quite a dilemma.<p>

"Something wrong Naruto-kun?" A delicate female voice asked.

"No," he said, his brow scrunching in frustration. "I just dunno what to get Ayame-nee-chan."

"Why don't you get the usual," the young woman said with a touch of concern for the out of character behavior for her favorite blonde.

"Wanna try something new," he said laconically.

Truthfully, Naruto's problem went beyond wanting to try a new ramen recipe. Currently he was having an identity crisis.

Asura, having been raised a monk by a father who had reached enlightenment, was a staunch vegetarian.

Hashirama, while always having eaten a balanced diet, preferred the green foods.

Naruto was a carnivore.

After several more minutes of deliberation, Naruto turned on the bar stool, looked skyward and channeled his inner Asura by mentally giving his father, wherever he was, the bird.

Turning back around and looking at a somewhat worried Ayame, he said, with great effort, "I'll have Hakodate." He nearly choked on his own words but, managed to spit them out. He didn't have this problem with Cat last night because he had yet to meditate on his past selves. Yet, after the further assimilation, he could hardly stomach the idea of eating meat and had nearly thrown up earlier this morning.

"Could you throw in some extra green stuff?"

At Ayame's look of shock, he quickly added, "Jiji convinced me to eat more healthy."

"Sure thing Naruto-kun," she smiled. "Hey dad!" She yelled over shoulder. "Naruto wants an extra-large Hakodate with some extra veggies!"

"Eh!? What did the brat do this time?" Came a yell from the back of the kitchen.

"Nothing," she shouted. "He wants to eat healthier."

"Well, it's about damn time! Tell him congrats!"

"You heard him Naruto-kun," Ayame said with a wide smile. "Congratulations for growing a brain like the rest of us."

"Gee, thanks," he said dryly.

As he waited for his order to be completed, Naruto couldn't help but fell a growing sense of dread within the pit of his stomach. It wasn't for the chicken he was about to eat. No, he had come to terms with that. So what was it that was making him on edge?

"NARUTO!"

_'Ah, there we go.'_ The angry voice of Cat screaming out his name cleared up everything for him. That was why he was feeling so scared. He had forgotten that he had ditched Cat earlier and that he should avoid all the usual places unless he receive her wrath. Now would be a good time to run.

As he jumped down from the bar stool and prepared to make a mad dash, he felt a strong grip suddenly fall on his shoulder. He turned to see Ayame smiling a_ little_ too sweetly for his liking.

"Uhh, Nee-chan. I need to go. Like, _now_."

"You wouldn't run out on us after making dad cook all that ramen for you now would you," she said in faux-kindness while pointing to a bowl of steaming ramen that magically appeared behind him.

All of a sudden, a shadow fell right in front of him in the form of an obvious irate Cat who had her arms crossed. "You're in big trouble mister."

"Well damn."

At Ayame's sudden gasp and Cat's obvious tensing, Naruto mentally groaned.

'_Me and my big mouth.'_

* * *

><p>"Ow ow ow ow ow," Naruto said all the way as Cat dragged him by the ear to his classroom from Ichiraku's Ramen. They had passed through the entire village and, suffice it to say, he was thoroughly embarrassed. It was downright degrading for someone of his stature to be treated as a child!<p>

Suddenly he felt a memory from years past of Mito dragging a drunk Hashirama from Madara's house and then one of Asura and Indra both being pulled from their ears by their mother. _'Huh. History does repeat itself. Who knew?'_

As she slid the door open, Naruto looked up to see the surprised face of his chuunin instructor. He was a man of average height and tanned complexion with a long scar running across the bridge of his nose.

"Your wayward student, Umino-san." Cat said as she let go of his ear.

Immediately he began to massage his ear to help the blood flow and flooded chakra into it to reduce the sharp pain. "Ah, thank you ANBU-san."

"Behave yourself," Cat said with a small hint of censure before ruffling his hair and disappearing in a shunshin. "Hello Naruto. Why don't you take a seat," he said dryly.

Naruto took a look into the classroom filled with eight year olds and groaned mentally. This could _not_ be happening to him. He remembered on one occasion, several clan heads had managed to talk him and Madara into giving a lecture at the academy once. The end result was…well, the Yamanaka of the time said that the children would recover eventually.

Speaking of Yamanaka, Ino yelled out. "Naruto? What happened to you?"

'_Life in the bitchiest way kid.'_

"What are you talking about?" he said instead.

"Y-You look different. You're taller and how come your hair is different and your face looks different too and how come those weird lines on your face are almost gone?"

'_That's a lot of (ands),' _he observed.

"I…uh, went through a growth spurt?"

The young Yamanaka looked at him skeptically. A little too skeptically for an eight year old little girl but, he supposed it was only to be given when being raised in a family of experts in regards to human behavior. Shrugging off her scrutinizing stare, Naruto turned towards Iruka only to groan inwardly. The academy instructor was also examining carefully through the corner of his eyes. Truthfully, while not major, his recent changes were quite noticeable.

"Take a seat Naruto," Iruka said after a couple of moments.

He walked to the back of the class where, what the rest of the class called 'The Losers' were seated. Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara, along with himself, were considered the bottom of the class. In truth, they were all just plain lazy. Akimichi and Nara by nature wanted to just laze around and the Inuzuka were possessed with an inability to sit still for more than three seconds. And the Uzumaki couldn't bear to listen anyone who wasn't one of them. They only stopped their hectic lifestyles to create even more chaotic fuinjutsu. Naruto smiled as he remembered what the rest of the world used to call his decedents/ancestors/cousins. _'Those crazy muthafuckers.'_

"Oi, Naruto-baka," Kiba piped up and caused Naruto raise an eyebrow in his direction. "The hell have you been?"

"With your mom," he whispered back sarcastically.

"Huh?" The young Inuzuka said in absolute confusion. "Why were you with my mom?"

Naruto stared at Kiba with a flat expression before he rolled his eyes and resisted the sudden urge to get up and repeatedly slam his head into the wall. Admittedly, when he envisioned himself being able to start a new, he forgot that it involved interacting with his fellow peers. His prepubescent, mentally developing, _immature _peers. _'Father kill me.'_

"Quiet down back there," Iruka barked out irritatedly.

"Hai, sensei." All four of them replied automatically even though only two of them were actually speaking out. They had an unwritten agreement where they would cover each other in case one of them landed in hot water. It saved the four of them from a lot of detentions in their first year.

As Iruka drawled on about the importance of formations, Naruto cast a bored glance to his left. Kiba was busy silently yapping away to Akamaru, his faithful companion and past him, Choji was happily munching on a bag of chips. Turning to his right, was Shikamaru, whose head and eyes were slowly drooping into a state of slumber.

Craning his neck to see past Shikamaru, Naruto glanced Shino Aburame sitting in the corner all by his lonesome self. He snorted to himself. The Aburame were a stoic lot. Not to mention utterly creepy. He remembered how many people had reservations when the Aburame wished to join Konoha initially. Ultimately, he and Madara decided to accept them as their usefulness outweighed their eccentricities.

The Uchiha patriarch even bedded an Aburame kunoichi at one point in his promiscuous conquest of the human race. According to him, the women of the clan could use their Kikuchi to manipulate their hormones for a magnificent rush of endorphins and adrenaline, resulting in multiple orgasms. Personally, he drew the line at involving insects during sex. Madara on the other hand…

'_Sweet Shinju…the man was such a _slut_!'_

His eyes trailed down to a few seats in front of Shino where, Hinata Hyuuga sat, paying rapt attention to their chuunin instructor. She had perfect doll like feature and pale skin that, rather than making her look unhealthy, only accentuated her delicate frame. A frown passed his face, as a distant memory, from another lifetime, briefly skittered across his mind. At one time in history, the Hyuuga and Uzumaki were embroiled in a few that would have put the Uchiha and Senju to shame. Yet, it seemed to lie forgotten in the endless sands of time now.

When the Hyuuga had approached them, all those years ago, to join Konoha, needless to say, everyone was shocked. The clan leaders of the Uchiha and Senju had debated for months on whether to approach the Hyuuga with an invitation to join the village and if so, just how to go about it. So, when one day, a delegation of Hyuuga arrived and wished to negotiate their assimilation into the growing power that was Konoha; even he had been suspicious, much to the pleasant surprise of Tobirama and Madara. Long weeks of compromising and espionage on both sides finally saw the details of the agreement hammered out and Konoha gladly opened its arms to renowned clan.

Unfortunately, the majority of the clan was a bunch of stuck up pricks not to mention, both he and Madara had been absolutely horrified at the way they branded their own members. And it had been an utter _nightmare_ trying to restrain Mito when she realized the **[Caged-Bird Seal]** was a stolen design from the impressive list of forbidden creations of the Uzumaki. After a lot more negotiating, and heavy drinking on his part, he and Madara managed to settle the whole thing and convince the Uzumaki to _not _declare war on the recently Konoha-aligned Hyuuga.

Naruto shook his head when he thought of the Hyuuga. Unlike the Uchiha, Senju and Uzumaki, the Hyuuga were not descended from the two brothers, Asura and Indra; rather, from their uncle. The Hyuuga always had their own set of rules and their damnable pride that went with it.

He looked away from Hinata and his eyes settled on the back of the head of the girl who had immediately questioned his new appearance. Ino was loud, boisterous and prone to throw in her opinion even when it wasn't asked for. Very much akin to his current incarnation. Perhaps it was something to do with the blond hair? Admittedly, back in the day, when his father still preached Ninshuu, there were very few blondes on the continent.

The Yamanaka were a relatively young clan during the founding of Konoha. Having been around for, perhaps a century or so, they managed to gain a solid reputation as information brokers that resided in the southern coasts of Fire Country. An elder from the Senju had recommended that they approach the clan and, after a general consensus with the rest of Konoha, he had dispatched Tobirama to negotiate with them.

It had been rather humorous when a disgruntled Tobirama returned with a beautiful and voluptuous Yamanaka on his arm. Even more hilarious, was that she was the Yamanaka clan head and decided that the Yamanaka would only join Konoha if she obtained Tobirama's hand in marriage. So, with the vindictive pleasure of an older brother, Hashirama sentenced his brother to marriage for the good of the village. Of course, that didn't end well when, much to Tobirama's pleasure, the Yamanaka clan head never showed up to the signing ceremony. So he did what he always did when he panicked.

He ran to Madara's house for a drink.

Luckily, or rather unluckily, when he arrived there, he found the Yamanaka clan head there as well….naked….and panting…..on top of Madara. The stupid Uchiha asshole had a shit-eating grin on his face and told him to, 'Shut the damn door.'

It all turned out well in the end and it was perhaps the only time in history where Tobirama uttered the words 'Thank You', and to Madara no less yet, Hashirama couldn't help but feel that somehow he had been cheated out of the whole ordeal.

Naruto chuckled as he went through the memories of his past lives. He had to admit, he had lived some pretty crazy lives in the past and that all of them were pretty badass. He turned his head towards Shikamaru when he felt someone nudge him in the ribs. The lazy Nara had a questioning look on his face at the fond grin on Naruto's lips. Naruto simply shook his head to silently signal 'nothing.'

Shrugging his shoulders, Shikamaru put his head back down on the desk much to Naruto's amusement. "Something funny back there Naruto?"

Naruto turned to see Iruka glaring at him with narrowed eyes filled with obvious irritation. The chuunin obviously could tell that the young boy was not paying attention to his lecture. "Nothing, sensei," was his immediate reply.

"Really, then?" Iruka said. His eyes narrowing even further in disbelief. "Then maybe you can answer my question, hmm?"

"Ahh…hehehe…what question exactly?" Naruto said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Truthfully, he knew exactly what Iruka-sensei had asked. Even if his thoughts were somewhere else, he was very capable of splitting his attention toward numerous points. It was a necessary aspect of a shinobi. He just didn't want to break from his old personality too quickly unless he ended up rousing suspicion.

"Idiot!" Iruka said, his head swelling to impossible proportions.

Naruto blinked.

'_Perhaps he's part Akimichi?'_

"Pay attention!" Iruka's voice struck him in full force and he quickly inserted a pinky to clean out any possible debris from his ear. "Now," Iruka said after deflating his head. "Why did the First Hokage pass a law where, clans could keep shinobi independent of Konoha's military force and could be employed privately?"

"So they would stop bitchin and whining at him." Naruto said with absolute certainty. Of course the moment he finished his sentence an eraser impacted his forehead and caused him to fall out of his chair. The rest of the class broke down into fits of laughter.

"Ow!" Naruto exclaimed. "What was that for Iruka-sensei? I answered your damn question!"

His use of colorful language earned him another make-shift projectile to the forehead.

"OW!"

"Baka!" The scarred chuunin yelled. "The First Hokage was great and honorable man! Don't talk about him like that! Now listen up!"

As his voice sharpened at the end, the entire class quieted down. "The _real _reason the Shodai passed that law was because the clans' had large amounts of land they owned back then. So in order to properly maintain and protect those properties, they requested that some of their shinobi remain within solely the clans' control. I suggest you write this in your notes as _some _of you seem to have trouble remembering details."

'_Che…you asked why I _passed _the law idiot! Not what it was!'_

"Naruto-baka, you need to start paying attention or else you're gonna be in big trouble out in real life one day," Ino said with an air of haughtiness.

"Yeah," said one pinked hair girl. "Why can't you be cool like Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto looked down at the girl who was glaring at him as if he just committed some unredeemable sin. What was her name again? Putting his finger to his chin, he sank deep into his thoughts and completely ignored the pink girl who began lecturing.

'_Oh that's right! She's Sakura-chan…and I have a fuckin crush on her…'_

Naruto fell out of thoughts that ended on a sour note and looked at the girl. Wasn't she the girl that he saved from a bunch of bullies last year? And of course she decided to return the favor by becoming a bully.

'_Cunt,' _he thought.

Eventually, Iruka told her to be quiet and restarted his lecture. The rest of the class went on without a hitch and Naruto silently tuned everything out in his boredom.

* * *

><p>Operatives Newt and Owl were both returning to ANBU headquarters, via Konoha's rooftops, after picking up the hourly village logs from the main gates of Konoha. Like always, Izumo and Kotetsu manned the gates and bickered with each other over the most asinine things. Despite the comedic performance the two put on at every opportunity, they were some of the best shinobi within the village and considered the strongest chuunin currently.<p>

"Hey Newt, stop for a sec." Owl said.

"What is it? I want to get these logs in and then head out for lunch. The Akimichi opened up a new restaurant and I wanna check it out."

"Yeah, yeah, but check _this _out," Owl said, pointing down to the market square filled with vendor stalls.

Newt jumped over next to Owl and followed Owl's finger to where he was pointing to. His line of sight ended up falling on a familiar short blonde. Newt blinked a few times as he saw the small boy look around with all the curiosity of an eight year old.

"…Didn't we _just_ see him walking _hand-in-hand _with Neko-taichou on the other side of town?" Newt asked incredulously.

"Yup," quipped Owl.

"Damn," Newt laughed. "That is one scary kid."

"Hey, check out his face. He's got that look in his eye," Owl said.

Newt quickly located the mischievous glint in the boy's eyes and shivered. The last time he saw that look, Ibiki ended up covered in pink glitter that didn't wash out until after three days. The kid was merciless with his pranks. And the worst part? They never figured out how he ended up pulling them off even _with _a twenty-four/seven detail on the kid. The kid may be a loudmouth prankster but, when he went around proclaiming he would be Hokage, the ANBU believed it.

"What are you doing," Newt hissed when Owl put on a henge of a civilian.

"I wanna see what he's got planned. Come on, you know this is going to be good," Owl replied.

Newt sighed. There was an unspoken tenet in ANBU that had come into play in recent years. When it comes to Naruto, the rules become more of a set of guidelines than actual governing laws. So with a great sigh, he joined Owl as he jumped down into the market square while putting on his own henge.

By the time the two of them reached the kid, he was already surrounded by a small crowd with a merchant yelling at him from behind his stall. The merchant was scrawny and had a dark complexion with a balding head.

"Get lost you stupid brat," the man said angrily in a nasally voice. "No one would anything to a worthless brat like you!"

"Who you calling worthless you ugly piece of shit!"

Newt and Owl could both feel their jaws fall behind their masks. The usual Naruto was loud and energetic, but he was _never _vulgar! Hell, he was too young to be vulgar! Apparently the rest of the market thought the same thing as their jaws were also touching the floor.

The merchant turned red in either embarrassment or anger. Likely a combination of the two. "What did you call me you little shit?!"

"What? You ugly, retarted _and _deaf? Well damn, if your life don't suck! I bet your momma took one look at you the moment your ugly ass popped out the womb and dropped you in fuckin disgust!"

The merchant began to splutter in rage but didn't make a move because of the sheer viciousness written on the little boy's sneer.

"Seriously! How do you even end up with a crap face like yours? What? You took a fuckin shovel to your face? Repeatedly?!"

Owl and Newt looked at each other in downright astonishment. They were both flabbergasted that an eight year old, no matter _what_ part of town he lived in, could speak like this. Poor Cat would die of an aneurism if this reached her ears.

"Now listen up! All of you muthafuckers! You been calling me a demon for years! Well its time I give you one, you bitch ass fuck-heads!"

Newt and Owl lost all sense of composure and became utterly terrified at those words. Did he know what he contained? Would he finally snap and turn against Konoha? Some people obviously interoperated his statement as this and began to scream, which caused Naruto to single out a particular woman who let off a shrill scream.

"Ah, shut your mouth you thong-wearing fatty! No one gives a shit what you think! So here's how shit's gonna go down from today on! You mess with me, I curse you! You dig?"

"…."

Utter silence. That's what met the Kid's proclamation. Owl had no doubt, and he knew that Newt probably thought the same but, they weren't the only two ANBU watching this little show. However, he doubted that they would be allowed to let the kid keep this up for much longer. They could only give him so much leeway.

"Umm…what do you mean by curse," a male bystander was asked dumbly from the crowd.

Naruto lost the sneer on his face and regained the usual normal expression on his face and said in an eager tone, "You know, curse! It's what demons do. They go around putting curses on people…right?"

"You've got to be kidding me…" Owl groaned. "He was doing all of that based on some random comments from people."

Despite the mask, Newt palmed his face. "This kid is going to be the reason for the next war…I just know it."

"Why you little brat!" One of the other merchants said. "You were just trying to scare us! Weren't you!"

"NARUTO!"

_'Oh, shit!' _Every ANBU, including Owl and NEWT though, within the vicinity thought. Suddenly the Cat themed mask of Konoha's strongest female ANBU appeared in front of the previously ranting boy with her arms crossed and emitting a dangerous aura.

"Where have you _been?_" She screamed. "I've been looking all _over _for you! What did you run off to do this time?!"

Utterly oblivious to her anger, Naruto exclaimed, "Cat!" He then proceeded to throw his arms around the waist of said ANBU much to the shock of all witnesses.

Sighing in exasperation Cat said, "Baby, what are you doing here?"

Letting go of her, Naruto stepped back and proclaimed gleefully, "This nice man paid me to play pretend with him!"

Everyone's heads snapped toward the direction in which Naruto's finger was pointing. The merchant, becoming self-conscious upon realizing just how much attention he had garnered.

"He…paid you," Cat asked tentatively.

"What," the nasally merchant exclaimed. "I did no such thing! The little brat is lying!"

"You did too!" Naruto said childishly. "Look! He even gave me all this money!"

Naruto then proceeded to pull out a wad of bills that no child should possess. Hell, Owl and Newt could only pull out that amount if they made a trip to the bank.

Cat's head slowly rotated toward the merchant and she pinned him down with a blast of pure murderous rage. However, before she could do anything, the kid tugged on her arm and began to count off on his finger.

"Fuck, cunt, bitch and shit. What do those words mean Cat?" He asked without any semblance of anything save of childish innocence.

"He didn't," Owl whimpered.

"We're all going to die," Newt squeaked.

A sudden silence descended down on Konoha as a sheer wave of malice and wrath hit every person within the shinobi village. As the very air seemed to thicken with Death itself, Naruto, seemingly, remained oblivious to it all. "Cat," he asked, tugging at her arm again. "Cat…are you okay?"

The ANBU captain's head snapped towards the direction of the two ANBU operatives, who let their curiosity get the better of them; causing their hearts to nearly fail. "You two!" She growled. Immediately they dropped their henge and fell into attention with quick salutes.

"Take him to the Hokage and _stay _with him. NOW!" She snarled.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Right away ma'am!"

The two ANBU grabbed the boy with all haste as they heard steel being drawn. Owl took hold of the boy's shoulder and sent both of them off in a shunshin. However, had he paid attention, he would have heard a soft, evil murmur of, "Just like the Pied Piper."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I'm having so much fun with this, you have no idea. Now with this chapter, I'm definitely going to get a bunch of, "Who's in charge of his body?" All I'm going to say to that is, keep reading or don't. I like being subtle with my writing so excuse me if I don't openly state everything right from the get go. For those of you who understand, much appreciated. <strong>

**I'm heavily leaning towards Yugao at this point but, I'm willing to throw in maybe one or two more for Naruto. Who do you guys think I should use?**

**Too my fellow headbangers, who realized to whom I was alluding to within this chapter, aguante!**

****Hope you enjoyed****

**CE-NEX is out. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Yeah...It's been a while sorry. Life and crap in the way. This is a short chapter with just some filler and relationship development between Naruto and Yugao.**

* * *

><p>As he pushed away the foliage, his gaze settled upon a wild mane of black hair that nearly touched the ground. "Daydreaming again, Madara?" He asked the seated figure.<p>

The hair shifted slightly so that he could make out and angular jaw layered with pale skin. Madara didn't say anything and turned his head back in the direction of the village. Hashirama walked over to stand next to Madara and crossed his arms. Together, the two men looked down on the foundations of their village being laid out.

"How are the negotiations with the Daimyo proceeding?" Madara asked, breaking the silence that had settled.

A small frown settled on Hashirama. "Not bad but, not good either. He is wary of us. After all, for the longest time our clans kept each other in check. Now that we're allied however…"

Hashirama trailed off, knowing that Madara didn't need clarification. They both realized that this might happen and already had contingency plans laid out. "There was," Hashirama began hesitantly. "An unforeseen complication that rose upon my arrival."

"Oh?" The Uchiha said with a raised eyebrow.

"It seems that the esteemed Fire Lord has hired the Hyuuga as bodyguards."

Hashirama stole a glance at Madara. The only outward sign of him reacting to the news was a slight narrowing of his eyes. "This will make spying on the Fire Court all the more difficult," Madara finally sighed.

He nodded at his old friend's words. "I doubt the fool even realizes the slight he has given us. Even after we pledged him our services he goes and hires a rival of ours to see to his protection."

Madara snorted. "It's a shame that there isn't one more qualified to take the throne. Else I would have had the fool replaced by now. It does no good to anyone to have a young lord heading the Court."

"True," Hashirama sighed. "It was an unforeseen complication that the Fire Daimyo would die of sickness and leave his throne to young son."

Once again the two men fell into silence and Hashirama observed the various construction workers going about and heaving building material. Hashirama ignored Madara as the man stood up and brushed off his pants. Wordlessly the Uchiha reached into his robes, pulled out a scroll and handed it to him.

When Hashirama saw the seal on the scroll, his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. "Sasuke sent this? What does he want?"

"The same thing the Nara want."

His mouth twisted as he digested that statement. "Our 'hidden' village won't stay hidden at this rate."

"He requested that I come personally to speak with at an arranged location in three days' time."

This time, it was Hashirama's eyes turn to narrow. "Which would mean neither you nor I would be in the village at the time." The Senju and Uchiha had many enemies that would take advantage of Madara's and Hashirama's combined absence. "Where is the meeting point?"

"Tanzaku Gai."

Hashirama scoffed, causing Madara to turn towards him with a curious look. "Something I should know?" He asked with an amused expression.

"I once went three months undercover there as a blacksmith's apprentice when I was sixteen," Hashirama said while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The people there have atrocious manners. Have you ever had a neighbor, who borrowed your shit for so long, that you had to borrow it back?"

The two of them chuckled together.

Madara walked over to the edge of the mountain and peered down. "I've been thinking…what of the Yamanaka?"

Hashirama looked surprised for a few seconds. "The relatively young clan in the south? What of them?"

"They've gained a solid reputation as information brokers in recent years. What if we hired them on a temporary base? It's no secret that we need information as the majority of our forces are tied up in the Fire Country."

Tapping his chin, Hashirama said, "But what's to stop them from selling the information that we ourselves are in the buying market? A lot of our enemies would take the advantage of that fact and use it to plant spies."

Madara gave him the typical Uchiha condescending. "Simple. We approach as an anonymous third party and request information not only on our enemies but on ourselves as well."

His eyes widened as the genius of Madara's plans came together in his mind. Not only would it throw off any suspicions from them but, at the same time, they could see what holes they had in their security and what had leaked out to the merciless networks of shinobi espionage.

He liked this plan. He liked it a lot.

"So…that just leaves us with this problem," he said waving the scroll Madara had given him around.

Madara hummed in thought. "I do not like the idea of blowing off Sasuke. The Sarutobi clan can be a powerful ally for us and an even greater enemy if they feel insulted."

Hashirama nodded and added in his own two cents. "However, I do not like the idea of either of us being absent from the village. Too much can go wrong."

As the two remained in silence for several moments, Madara's eyes suddenly locked with his.

"Can you get away from the Hyuuga long enough to replace yourself with a clone?" He asked sharply.

"It shouldn't be too difficult," he said thoughtfully.

"Good," Madara said. "Here's what we shall do. Replace yourself with a clone and return to the village as discreetly as possibly. You'll Henge into me and take my place while I go to meet with Sasuke."

Processing Madara's word, he nodded his head slowly. "How many will you take with you to the meeting?"

"None," Madara stated simply. "So long as this stays between us the chance of us being found out is minimal to non-existent."

"Out of the question," Hashirama said harshly. "What if it's a trap?! I will not allow you to go on your own!"

Madara rolled his eyes. "I can take care of myself Hashirama."

He didn't relent. "You know, as well as I do, that Sasuke is not an opponent to be taken lightly! The odds will be heavily stacked against you if this an ambush."

The two men glared at each other stubbornly. Madara's harsh onyx eyes seared against Hashirama's steeled auburn. After several moments, Madara broke eye contact and sighed.

"Very well"

Hashirama quickly lost his grimace and gave a big ludicrous, smile. "Great! I'll you tomorrow evening, then."

Madara began to roll his eyes but stopped half way and gave, what Hashirama could only describe as, an evil smile.

"By the way…your wife is pregnant."

He went wide eyed and before he could ask anything, Madara tore a kunai right through his throat, causing him to collapse into a pile of wood.

Far away in the Fire Country's capital, the Shodai Hokage began to violently choke uncontrollably on his lunch in full view of the of the Daimyo's court.

* * *

><p>He swiftly dodged as the diminutive appendage smashed into the stone where he had been standing.<p>

Hiruzen hadn't imagined his afternoon away from the office and the infernal paperwork to be spent in his battle armor and going like this. In fact, he was internally debating whether or not if the paperwork would be preferable to this.

He quickly raised his arm and blocked the kick that seemed intent on implanting itself onto his face.

Admittedly, it wasn't really difficult, his current task that is. What it was, however, was tiring and exerting. He was a far cry from a young man and he could hardly keep up in the energy department with some of the younger generation. Specifically if said younger generation had an endless store of chakra sealed away into its gut and the experience and determination of one of the most powerful, if not _the _most powerful, shinobi in history.

He sighed at how he had ended up being roped into sparring with his reincarnated sensei. Naruto-said sensei's reincarnation-had made leaps and bounds in his personal progress and wanted a way to measure his progress. Not wanting to go through the task of explaining to others why an eight year old child that _just _started the academy could tear through most genin, they decided to forgo the usual training grounds and use the Hokage's personal one.

_That_, and Naruto's promise to tell him how he had managed to get his paperwork done in mere minutes during his previous tenure as Hokage.

Weaving through the hailstorm of small fists, Hiruzen deftly caught a knee that was aimed for his solar plexus and gently pushed back. Well, for _him _it was gently. For Naruto's eighty pound frame, it was enough force to send him flying back a few meters.

"You seem quite tired sensei," he calmly observed.

Naruto, who was indeed drenched in sweat and huffing severely, grimaced at him. "There's only so much physical conditioning you can give to an eight year old body Hiruzen. And besides, these last two months have been largely spent meditating on keeping my mind from further fracturing."

"Ah…how _is _that going by the way?" He asked with all sincerity. The last thing he needed was a super-powered jinchuuriki going insane. He didn't need that kind of stress, thank you very much.

Catching his breath for a moment, Naruto said, "Progress is slow but, it's there. I don't foresee any mental breakdowns in the near future."

'_Well that's good,' _he thought to himself wryly.

"It seems my body is quite tired. Let us end our taijutsu match for now." Naruto said.

After being Hokage for several decades and being used to giving out orders and handing out directives, Hiruzen still couldn't get used to the fact that now _Naruto, _of all people, was ordering him around. Even more strange, or ironic depending on how you saw it, he obeyed unflinchingly.

Watching Naruto as he sat down and reigned in his impressively dense chakra, Hiruzen couldn't help but marvel at how easily his old sensei adapted to his limitations. Even with his diminutive size and frame, Naruto could wield his chakra in such an effective manner, he could easily take on half of Konoha's shinobi force. By the time he graduated the academy, Hiruzen had little doubt that Naruto could overwhelm him. And by Naruto's own admission, he probably wouldn't achieve his old level until he hit seventeen or so.

A humbling thought.

"Hiruzen," Naruto panted out.

He simply answered Naruto's call with a raised eyebrow.

"It's been over a month…where is Tsunade?"

"Ah…"

'_Oh dear…' _he thought.

How do you explain to a man that the granddaughter he adores more than anything else, hates the very place that stands as his pride and joy? Crossing his arms, Naruto gave him an expectant stare.

"It seems that whenever one of my spies gets near her position, she runs off and hides somewhere else."

At the sudden narrowing of Naruto's eyes. Hiruzen quickly added, "She's still in the Fire Country!"

Apparently this wasn't enough to appease the eight year old grandfather.

"I can understand wanting an extended vacation but it's been over _a month_, Hiruzen. Is she still not a standing member of Konoha's shinobi force?"

Not finding an answer that would satisfy the young yet-very-old jinchuuriki, he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"And why would she be avoiding your agents? Is she on some sort of covert assignment? If that is the case, simply tell me that her current whereabouts are classified."

"Sensei," he sighed. "Tsunade's situation is…_complicated_."

"Complicated," the former Hokage stated.

Hiruzen nodded slowly.

"Right," Naruto said in clipped tone and mechanically stood. He clasped his hands together in the Snake seal and from each shoulder popped out a wood clone.

"Did you know Hiruzen," Naruto said with a certain amount of steel in his voice. "That I can alter each wood clone as I see fit? That I can make their strength directly proportional to the amount of chakra I pour into them?"

"Tobirama-sensei might have mentioned it," Hiruzen said nervously. He _really _didn't like the sudden predatory glint that shone viciously in Naruto's eyes.

"Really," he drawled. "Did he also tell you that these clones can _flawlessly_ mimic the body shape and structure of _anyone_?"

When both clones formed the Ram seal, Hiruzen suddenly wondered how swiftly his ANBU would be able to reach the middle of the isolated and _heavily _sealed off training grounds, if he activated his emergency distress beacon.

His panic only hastened to grow as both copies of Naruto began to lose shape and started to twist and grow. When they finally settled on their transformation, Hiruzen's jaw hit the ground and he sent up a silent prayer for his soon to be departed soul.

Standing on either side of Naruto, were two exact replicas of the Shodai Hokage, Hashirama Senju. And neither looked particularly happy.

"Now...tell me," Naruto growled. "Just where **the fuck** **my baby girl is!**"

* * *

><p>Naruto was absolutely livid!<p>

Hiruzen had come clean about everything. How Tsunade had left the village several years ago broken hearted and jaded. His granddaughter's life had apparently crashed around her in a rather violent manner.

His son and daughter-in-law had been assassinated shortly after Tobirama himself had been killed. Tsunade and Niwaki, the grandson he never knew, were left orphaned. Niwaki died in the second shinobi world war just as Tsunade was making a name for herself as the eminent expert in medicine. When Hiruzen told him that they could barely recognize his body, Naruto's heart clenched in a way that it hadn't since many a lifetimes ago. If that wasn't bad enough, the man who she loved, apparently bled out in her arms during the same war.

The final straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, turned out to be when one of her closest friends, a man she saw as a brother, turned out to be a psychopathic murderer and betrayed Konoha. This resulted in her other best friend leaving everything behind, including her, to hunt said former best friend.

Tsunade had grown to loathe the village and was unable to bear being within its walls any longer. The memories in Konoha were far too painful for her to bear and she ended up fleeing the village. And the worst part is, no one stopped her!

He had half of a mind to find this Jiraiya and give the man a good thrashing. He had already given one to Hiruzen for being a supreme idiot. The other half of his mind said go find Tsunade and give her a thorough spanking. Gambling and _drinking _her life away. A complete disgrace! What was that young lady thinking?!

Konoha had really fallen low if this was how things were being done now a days. They treat their jinchuuriki as sub-human. They circumvent their Hokage's authority. There isn't even a single S-class shinobi within the village walls! The so called 'sannin' were AWOL and Hiruzen was lying broken in some field somewhere!

Though he acknowledged the last part was due to his own rather short temper.

Nevertheless, Konoha was due for a serious overhaul. Had he known things were this bad, he would have kicked Hiruzen out on his ass and taken back the hat that very first night! However, first things first. He would recover Tsunade and smack some sense into her!

As he walked through the streets of Konoha, he realized that he had coddled Tsunade _far _too much during her childhood. But it wasn't his fault, dammit!

How, in the name of the Six Paths, was he supposed to deny her adorable pout! It just wasn't possible! He long ago had rationalized that the only reason Mito could even resist Tsunade's endearing scowl was because of the overgrown fuzball lounging inside of her. Kurama's grouchiness had even gotten to his father at times.

He sighed in defeat. There was no possible way to refute those chubby cheeks or the cute way her lips would tremble when she became upset. Or the absolutely _darling _way her-

'_No! I will not be swayed! I am Asura Ōtsutsuki of the Sage! Hashirama Senju of the Forest! Naruto Uzumaki of the Prank! No little girl may conquer me!'_

Suddenly, Naruto crumpled to the floor. Who was he kidding? All Tsunade had to do was look at him with those big beautiful hazel eyes of hers and he's melt into a puddle goo.

"It's not faaaairrr," he whined as he pounded the floor childishly facedown.

* * *

><p>Yugao looked down at the street and blinked a few times.<p>

Was she really seeing this?

Naruto was currently lying face down in the middle of the street and throwing, what appeared to be a temper tantrum. While not exactly the paragon of normalcy, Naruto really wasn't one for acting out in public like this.

He tended to shy away from most people in public and stuck to her like glue whenever they went out somewhere. Of course, there were times where he ran off to Sage knows where to commit some minor mischief. However, that was completely normal for children his age…right?

"Naru-chan," she called out hesitantly.

Instantly his head shot up and he looked about sharply. Yugao had to stifle her laughter at the sight of Naruto accurately portraying a prairie dog coming out of its den. Upon noticing her, Naruto's eyes shone brightly and with an excited yell he slammed into her.

Marveling at the warmth that seemed to seep through their physical contact, Yugao ran her hands through his soft, golden hair. "Slow down baby," she laughed. "What's the rush? And why were you lying on the street?"

"Cat," he said excitedly with a hint of exasperation.

She had to muffle another laugh as she rolled her eyes. If there was anyone who should be exasperated it should be her. Honestly, disappearing on her again and showing up in the most random places.

"We haven't seen each other in, like, _forever_." He exclaimed.

"Naru-chan," she said with mirth. "I saw you last night. Or did you forget who tucked you in last night."

"Caaaat," he whined. "I'm not a baby anymore, jeez."

"Oh? I guess a big strong man like you doesn't need me to take you to have ramen, huh?" She said mischievously.

"Ramen?!" His eyes lighting up. "Nononono! Come on Cat! Let's go right away!"

This time she did laugh as he dragged her away by hand. Most people would wonder at the sight of an ANBU being pulled by a small child but, seeing as how the general populace knew the Hokage's stand when it came to Naruto, they turned a blind eye.

Yugao inwardly seethed as she saw people purposefully ignore the pair. How could so many people be classified as idiots? Honestly, as if the Hokage would allow a major threat to walk about his village. Sometimes she wished she could just take Naruto far away and safe from the imbeciles at large.

"So Naruto," she said as they wadded through the pedestrian traffic. "You never did tell me why you were rolling all over the street."

"I was not!" He said indignantly.

"Were too," she said childishly.

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Was not."

It was childish moments like these that she purposefully instigated so that Naruto could have semblance of a normal childhood. She knew that he could never have a loving family or caring environment that he deserved; so she did her best to provide something that he could look back on one day and smile about.

"Hmph, just tell me already what you were doing."

Any aspect irritation immediately melted away and he began jumping up and down in excitement. "You should have seen it Cat!" He said animatedly.

"Seen what?"

"Jiji did the coolest thing!"

"Hokage-sama?"

Yeah," he said while nodding his head earnestly. "He showed me how to do these weird things with his hands and then he…he…_barfed fire_ like, _everywhere_! It was so _awesome_! But when I tried it nothing happened. That sucked!"

Putting Naruto's descriptive vocabulary aside, Yugao once again found herself contemplating the state of mind of her supreme commander. Specifically speaking, whether or not he had finally gone senile. A great deal of wisdom was to be questioned when you began to demonstrate, to a hyperactive child with a penchant for mischief, how to breathe fire.

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise," said a voice in front of them.

Yugao looked up from Naruto into the smirking face of an old friend of hers. Kurenai Yūhi was tall young woman with luscious chocolate hair and the most stunning pair of ruby eyes.

"It's been quite some time since we last spoke Cat-san," she said.

Laughing to herself, Yugao said, "Yeah, it has been a while, hasn't it? Still studying to become a jounin?"

"Yeah but I'm not planning on taking the exam for a few more years or so. My old sensei advised me to develop a larger chakra reserve and up, well, pretty much everything," Kurenai sighed.

"Oh trust me I know," she responded.

Becoming a jounin was no easy feat. There numerous conditions and qualifications that had to be met before someone could even be recommended to even _take_ the exams. Almost all capabilities of the shinobi arts had to be well above average. There were a few, who excelled in a particular field so well that they were granted the rank of a special jounin. These jounin, however, were not considered full jounin and technically still ranked as chuunin. Kurenai was currently a chuunin who was promoted just a few years ago.

Her reserves weren't all that big but, her chakra control, on the other hand, was phenomenal. Kurenai was quickly climbing the list of the village's elite genjutsu practitioners. Yugao estimated that her own reserves were twice Kurenai's own. And the little munchkin next to her probably had double that amount.

Speaking of Naruto…

"Naru-chan, this is my friend Kurenai. Say hi."

The little boy quickly hid behind her legs and peeked from behind his wild locks of blonde.

"Don't be shy Naruto," she said gently while place hand on his shoulder. "Be nice and say hello."

Seeing the boy's obvious discomfort, Kurenai kneeled down and gave him a gentle smile while outstretching her hand. "Hi my name Kurenai. What's your?"

At Yugao's delicate urging, Naruto shyly shuffled from behind her and glanced at Kurenai from underneath his soft bangs. Yugao smiled from beneath her mask as she saw Naruto softly take hold of Kurenai's hand say, "I-I'm Naruto U-Uzumaki."

Kurenai gave him a brilliant smile and said, "My, don't you have the most beautiful pair of eyes?"

Yugao's smile grew as she knew that what Kurenai spoke was true. Naruto's eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue in the world. However, she couldn't help but feel unease at the way Naruto's pools of star sapphire peered into Kurenai's glinting rubies. For a moment, she saw…_something_ flash into his eyes.

"Onee-chan…are you an angel?" Naruto asked with innocent sincerity.

Yugao blinked.

'_Where did _that _come from?' _She thought.

A light blush played across Kurenai's face. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Yugao. "Why would you say that Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked in earnest curiosity.

Suddenly, a blush appeared on _Naruto's _face and he dropped eye contact with Kurenai and looked at the ground before shyly mumbling. "Jiji said that angels are the most beautiful people in the world."

Yugao felt something twist inside of her as those words fell on her ears and Kurenai's blush deepened to match her namesake. She was sorely tempted to break major protocol and throw away her mask and have Naruto look at her own face. Preferably for the rest of eternity.

"You're so _adorable!" _Kurenai gushed before glomping Naruto in a tight embrace.

Yugao's eye twitched.

'_What kind of person just grabs a kid they just met?! And why is she running her hands through his hair?!'_

Gently prying Naruto away from Kurenai, she tersely said, "Come on Naru-chan, Kurenai is probably very busy. We should let her go about her business." Hearing those words, Naruto's eyes lit up in a way that would normally cause her heart to flutter, however, as she was not the recipient this time, she was filled with a certain unease.

"Onee-chan, wanna come eat ramen with us?" He asked with a wide smile.

Before she could say anything, Kurenai responded with an, 'I'd love to' and Naruto let out a small exclamation of joy.

Yugao could only watch in horror as her Naru-chan gripped Kurenai's hand and led her off in the direction of Ichiraku's.

* * *

><p>Naruto watched in amusement as Cat walked tersely through the park. The Sun had already set, leaving the last rays of light dancing across a quickly blackening sky. As he looked up at her face from beside her every now and then, he couldn't help but stare at her hair as the violet strands of silk melted into the horizon. It gave her a look of pure majesty.<p>

In the olden days, when the Ōtsutsuki still thrived, Cat would have been courted by all the males of the clan for her vibrant hair. It was a long standing tradition for them to judge beauty on the luscious weave of hair that cascaded down the feminine form. He had seen pictures of his grandmother. Of her ethereal beauty and otherworldly grace. For some strange reason he found that same enchantment in Cat. And the strangest thing was, he had never actually seen her face.

Perhaps it was that particular unknown fact, the enthralling mystery, which linked her to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in his mind. Very much like her given namesake, she possessed a poised elegance and fluidity in her movements. Her long strides were lithe and without wasted movement.

Years ago, he had viewed Cat practicing with the katana that was always strapped to her back. And what an experience had it been for him. She seemed like the moon to him in that memory. Appearing perfectly still yet drifting across the heavenly dais. Such incarnate magnificence. He would never forget that moment.

Apparently noting his constant glances, Cat asked him, "You okay Naru-chan? You keep looking at me."

Apparently she was still miffed at being ignored earlier because he could hear a tenor of annoyance in her voice. He had to repress a chuckle as he remembered the waves of jealousy that had rolled off Cat at the ramen stand when he lavished all his attention on Kurenai as she fawned over him. It amused him to end to have Cat act so possessively of him and, quite frankly, he enjoyed every bit of affection she displayed.

Ignoring her question, he let go of her hand and silently walked over to a wooden bench. Easing himself up, he settled in until his spine rested against the back of the bench and his legs dangled in the air. Fixing Cat with a stare, he gazed into the black holes in her mask where her eyes would be. "Do you have any dreams, Cat?"

"W-What?"

She was obviously startled by his question and abrupt change from customary demeanor. He normally wouldn't do something like shifting into his true personality in front of her but, dwelling in the past had left him in a somber mood.

Tilting his head slightly, he gave her a small serene smile. "Dreams…do you have any?"

He must have really shocked her because she stood completely frozen for several moments. After a while, she slowly walked over and sat on the other end of the bench, sending her gaze toward the emerging stars.

"Dreams, huh? Haven't thought about those in a while. When I was younger I wanted to be the first female kage. I really used to look up to Tsunade-sama of the Sannin."

Naruto's eyes flashed with pride. It seemed Tsunade had quite the profound effect on the generations beneath her. There was hope for his wayward child. She was the last true daughter of his bloodline after all. Not to mention, by all rights, she was his heir through Asura as well.

"But now a days," Cat continued. "I really don't know, Naru-chan. What about you?"

Feeling the cool air of the evening coil itself in his lungs, Naruto slowly eased his head into Cat's lap and closed his eyes. He felt her tense momentarily before relaxing. He had to stop himself from sighing when her hands gently entwined themselves in his hair. Feeling her fingertips rake themselves over his skull, he opened his eyes and took note of the settling darkness over the grass and trees in the park.

"Have you ever heard of the Vánagandr?"

There was a moment's silence as she ceased weaving her hands. Evidently, the abrupt change in subject was leaving her confused.

"Can't say that I have," she said as she pushed back his bangs gently and continued her affections.

"Long ago, a terrible beast called Vánagandr came into this world. Its fangs were said to be able to kill anything in existence, so the gods took it in to raise as their weapon."

He ceased speaking and silently sucked in air when her hands went lower and gently caressed his necks. Her warm fingers against the cool air caused all sorts of sensations to burn over his skin.

"However, they couldn't control the monster. So, fearing its continuous growth, they bound it in chains and placed a sword in its mouth to keep it from biting through the manacles. As the beast raged, its running saliva formed a river and it fell onto the mortal realm. From there the mortals drank and absorbed the monster's ambitions, desires and, most importantly, longing for freedom."

At some point during his story, Cat had once again stopped her hands. Her attention rapt on the young boy who spoke entirely out of place. "That's an interesting story Naru-chan. Where did you hear it?"

"It is, isn't it? As for where I learned it, the old man told me about it." In truth, the 'old man' who told him was his father. His original father, the Sage of the Six Paths. It was just the way he said it made her interpret it as the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama knows some weird things, doesn't he?" She asked teasingly.

"Ahh, give him a break Cat. I mean, he's like super old."

Together they laughed and soon fell into the silence of the night. As they stayed there on the bench their thoughts turned in opposite directions. The younger, thinking about endless dreams and the expectations of the future. The elder, content with reminiscing about the past and the secrets it held.

As the wind swept past them and touched them with its gentle embrace, Naruto felt a shudder go through his small frame. Without thinking, the words escaped his lips.

"I love you, Cat."

She didn't respond.

* * *

><p>Kurama watched the newest incarnation of Asura as he spun his tale and lost himself to the intricate twines of his own soul. It was a tale he was very familiar with. One the Old Man had told them quite often. He wondered if Asura knew how it ended. How the great beast found its freedom and began what would be the end of the world.<p>

Mortals. Always seeking their own desires. Always longing for what is outside of their reach and forever damning the world around them. As Kurama laid his down on his crossed arms, his eyes began to droop lower.

"Vánagandr," He whispered. "The Monster of the River Hope."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: A lot of you probably realized where the myth came from and I did tweak it a bit. It's significance will be explained in later chapters. Hope you enjoyed. This is NEX saying he's already starting chapter 5 so hopefully it won't be a long wait for you guys.<br>**

**Later**


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